The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Furious fourth leads St. Edward past Mentor
For three quarters on Nov. 14, the Mentor football team kept the holes in the dam plugged.
Come the fourth quarter, the floodgates opened, and the Cardinals got swamped.
Trailing by just three points, 13-10, going into the final quarter, Mentor gave up 21 fourth-quarter points and lost to top-seeded St. Edward, 34-10, at Byers Field in Parma.
The win ends Mentor’s season at 8-4, while 11-1 St. Edward — the top-ranked team in Division I — moves on to play Euclid in a Region 1 semifinal on Nov. 21 at a site to be announced Nov. 15.
“I felt real good at the end of the third quarter,” Mentor coach Steve Trivisonno said. “We were right there.” But not for long. Cole Gest scored from 30 yards out on the second play of the fourth quarter. Then after Mentor fumbled the ball at midfield, Eagles quarterback Jimmy Keefe capped a short-field drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.
Then after a Mentor punt, Keefe put the nail in the Mentor coffin with a 46-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Gonzalez.
In a matter of six clock minutes, a close game had turned into a blowout.
“That quarter there was probably our best quarter,” St. Edward coach Tom Lombardo said. “We responded and I’m happy about that.”
If St. Edward hadn’t recovered, it might have been Mentor that moved on for a Week 13 rematch against Euclid. The Eagles turned the ball over twice in the red zone in the first half against Mentor, once on an interception in the end zone by Mentor’s Malik Porter and the other on a fumble on the Cardinals’ 19.
So instead of two potential scores, the Eagles handed the ball back to Mentor. The Cardinals cashed in with a secondquarter touchdown reception by Alex Mathews that made it a 13-7 halftime lead.
The two first-half turnovers gave St. Edward eight turnovers in its last 10 quarters of play.
“We had those darn turnovers in the red zone, and next thing you know what could have been 20-0 was 13-7,” Lombardo said. “Keep giving good teams opportunities and they’re going to convert.”
Mentor narrowed the score to 13-10 early in the third quarter when Cal Tommasone booted a 24yard field goal. But that’s as good as it got for Mentor’s offense, which was held to 258 yards by the St. Edward defense — only 60 of which came in the fourth quarter, when Mentor’s offense was needed the most.
With the game on the line, St. Edward handed the ball to Gest. The 5-foot-7, 190-pound senior, an Indiana commit, finished with 26 carries for 210 yards.
“They were talking a lot of smack out there, and I think that fueled my energy,” Gest said. “That’s why I went beast-mode in the second half.
“We preached all week about never letting up. Just keeping the pedal to the metal.”
Said Trivisonno of the powerful back, “he’s quick as heck, boy. He’s elusive, he spins and moves. He’s a good player and he did a really good job.”
Aside from Gest’s running, St. Edward got a 142-yard passing performance from Keefe, including touchdowns to Gonzalez and Matthew Carbon.
Mathews ran for 129 yards for Mentor, with Tadas Tatarunas throwing for 120 yards to go with the 22-yard screen pass for a touchdown to Mathews.
After the game, Trivisonno instructed his young players to remember the feeling of losing in the regional playoffs.
“We’ve got a lot back,” Trivisonno said. “I’m looking forward to getting ready to go for the next year.”
The win was Lombardo’s 100th in his coaching career, a career that includes a state championship in 2001 as the head coach at Lake Catholic.
Lombardo held in his hands after the game a commemorative ball signifying his 100th career win.
“It’s nice, but it’s not about that,” Lombardo said. “I’m just glad we played a good second half.”