The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
WIN IN THE CARDS
Mentor players celebrate during their 41-0 win over Shaker Heights on Sept. 23 at Jerome Osborne Stadium. It was the Cardinals’ second victory of the season. More on this game and the rest of Friday night’s action is in Sports,
For a team with its back against the proverbial wall, with playoff and league title hopes in jeopardy, Mentor’s Sept. 23 game against visiting Greater Cleveland Conference foe Shaker Heights was as big as a midseason game could get. The Cardinals responded in a big way, dominating the Red Raiders on both sides of the ball in sending the visitors home with a 41-0 thrashing.
Senior Isaiah Gullick rushed for 80 yards on 16 carries and scored four touchdowns in the first half as the Cardinals essentially had the game won by halftime, leading 34-0.
“This was good for us. This will really get us going,” Gullick said.
Tadas Tatarunas had an efficient night directing the offense, completing 15 of 21 passes for 187 yards and one TD.
“I thought we played very well,” Mentor coach Steve Trivisonno said.
“It was good to see after some rough games we’ve had recently. Isaiah ran the ball well, and I thought we played well up front. Defensively we played well. Last year he (Shaker Heights quarterback Jamir Dismukes) gave us some trouble.”
The elusive Red Raiders QB passed for 84 yards and ran for 48, but the Cardinals sacked him five times. As a team, Mentor held Shaker Heights to 183 total yards and eight first downs.
Mentor moved the ball throughout the first half with a mix of short passes and Gullick runs. Gullick finished off an 11-play, 80-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge to start the game, and added a 19yard scoring jaunt to culminate a six-play, 57-yard drive later in the first quarter.
The Cardinals put the game away with a 20-point second quarter, using two turnovers and a big punt return to start all three scoring drives in Shaker Heights territory.
Ryan Bischof recovered a fumble, and Tommy Klepczyk picked off a pass, both leading to TDs for Mentor.
Two more Gullick scoring runs, of 6 and 26 yards, were sandwiched around a nifty 2-yard touchdown pass in which Tatarunas faked a handoff to Gullick and passed to a wide-open Dan Adams for the score. Adams had a bit of a breakout game for the Cardinals, catching four passes for 56 yards to lead nine Mentor receivers.
“He’s a sophomore, and he stepped up and made some nice plays for us,” Trivisonno said.
The win leaves Mentor with a record of 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the GCC. Beating what was a 3-1 Shaker Heights team coming in should provide a decent windfall of computer points, and sets up a major showdown at Jerome T. Osborne Sr. Stadium on Sept. 30 with preseason league favorite Solon.
“Oh, we’d better be ready” Trivisonno said in response to a query about the Week 6 showdown with the Comets. “This is what we’ve worked for. This obviously means a lot for us.”
Gullick echoed his coach’s sentiments.
“We’ll enjoy this one, but come Monday it’s go time,” he said. “It’s our homecoming, and we’re playing for all the alumni that came before us.”