The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mentor ground game pounds Medina
Edmond runs for four touchdowns, 149 yards for Cardinals
Mentor fans who annually attend one game a year in honor of homecoming likely arrived at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium on Sept. 29 expecting to see quarterback Tadas Tatarunas put up gaudy passing statistics.
While the standout senior certainly had an outstanding game in Mentor’s 49-14 rout of visiting GCC foe Medina, his typically eye-catching numbers weren’t needed on a night during which the Cardinals’ defense and running game had everything under control.
Tatarunas completed 13 of 20 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns in three quarters of work. Chris Edmond did the heavy lifting for the Mentor offense, though, piling up 149 yards and four touchdowns on 22 carries against a Medina defense that appeared to be focused on defending the Cardinals’ prolific passing attack.
“They seemed to be playing a little back (defensively), so I said let’s run,” Mentor coach Steve Trivosonno said. “They gave us that, and we were able to do a little bit of both. If they’re going to give us that many guys outside the box, we’ll run it a little more.”
The Cardinals’ defense dominated. The Bees finished with 157 yards, eight first downs, were forced to punt six times and turned the ball over on downs twice. Had it not been for Mentor fumbling the ball away on the first play of both the third and fourth quarters in its own territory, Medina (2-4, 1-2 GCC) may not have scored at all.
“We played well,” Trivosonno said of his defense. “We’ve played pretty well the last two weeks, but we’ve just got to keep getting better. We’re still pretty young over there.”
Mentor senior defensive back Mike Brey typified the defensive effort, coming up with a sack of Medina quarterback Levi Pokersnik, intercepting Pokersnik in the third quarter and making several key stops on running plays.
“It was about making a statement today,” Brey said. “We knew the quarterback was mobile and that he can get around and make plays, and that No. 7 (Dylan Fultz) is an athlete, but we were ready and shut them down.”
Edmond got the Cardinals going with a 1-yard touchdown plunge in the first quarter, then Mentor scored on four of its next five possessions. Tatarunas connected with Luke Floriea and Derek Kleinhenz for short scores, and Edmond tacked on two more scoring runs to give the Cardinals a 35-0 lead at the half.
Pokersnik, a transfer from Benedictine who finished with 109 yards on 14 carries but could only complete 5 of 21 passes against the tight coverage of the Mentor secondary, ran in both of the Bees’ touchdowns after Mentor fumbles.
The Mentor running game wasn’t finished, though, as Edmond added a fourth scoring run and Elijah McDougal had a highlight-reel 63-yard touchdown run late in the third.