The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
New Cards key huge win over St. Edward
Kipp, Trobel combine for 365 yards, six touchdowns in season-opening win
Hey, there really is something to that “next man up” thing.
When Mentor graduated allOhio quarterback Tadas Tatarunas and 1,000-yard rusher Isaiah Gullick in the spring, many pundits wondered where the Cardinals’ offense would come from in the 2018 season.
Ian Kipp and Brian Trobel provided the answer in Mentor’s season opener Aug. 24.
Kipp, the Cardinals’ new quarterback, and Trobel, the team’s new feature back, combined for 365 yards rushing and six touchdowns, leading
Mentor to a 42-39 win over visiting St. Edward in front of nearly 7,000 fans at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium.
Junior Trobel toted 24 times for 191 yards and four touchdowns in his first varsity action, while sophomore Kipp ran 19 times for 174 yards and two scores in his first starting assignment.
Kipp also completed an efficient 14 of 18 passes for 114 yards.
“They’re pretty good,” Mentor coach Steve Trivisonno said. “That’s a sophomore and a junior back there. That’s an impressive group.”
Running behind a powerful offensive line that includes Ohio State recruit Ryan Jacoby at left tackle and Michigan State recruit Nick Samac at right tackle, the Cardinals hammered away repeatedly at the St. Edward defense with running plays.
When the Cardinals got inside the 10-yard line, they put Jacoby and Samac next to each other and then put Ohio State defensive line commit Noah Potter at tight end for even more oomph.
“I trusted the guys in front of me,” Kipp said. “We just ran the ball a lot. We followed those guys up front. That’s all we really had to do.”
After the game was tied, 14-14, at the half, the second half was a flurry of activity with both teams driving the length of the field over and over again for touchdowns.
Mentor finished with 478 total yards, while St. Edward had 441.
When St. Edward mised an extra point after scoring a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, Mentor held a 28-20 lead. And St. Edward never evened the score or led again.
The Cardinals had a 3533 lead with less than two minutes remaining when Trivisonno made a crucial decision facing fourthand-3 from the St. Edward 11. Instead of kicking a field goal and going up by five at 38-33, Trivisonno went for it.
Trobel went wide left 11 yards for the touchdown and 42-33 lead.
St. Edward scored on the final play of the game, but the outcome had already been decided by Trivisonno’s call.
“I was going to win it and finish it and get it over with,” Trivisonno said. “I said, ‘Get it close (on third down), and we’re going for it.
“I really wanted (Trobel) to fall down on the 1 and time would run out. I didn’t want him to get all the way to the end zone.
“It’s hard to tell a kid to lay down.”
Said Trobel of the coach putting his faith in him, “I am happy Coach had trust in me. We knew what we were capable of. He knew what we were capable of. We were all confident.”
While Kipp and Trobel accounted for all six of Mentor’s touchdowns, St. Edward got 81 yards rushing and two touchdowns from running back Jordan Castleberry and 276 yards passing and three touchdowns from quarterback Garrett Dzuro.
Michigan recruit Quintel Kent had seven catches for 135 yards and two touchdowns.
St. Edward coach Tom Lombardo lamented his team’s inability to stop the two new Cardinals.
“We never got a big stop,” he said. “Give them credit, but we didn’t make a big stop.”
Of Kipp’s big game, Lombardo said, “He’s going to be a good one. He is able to run it and throw it. Not making the big stop when we had to was kind of the key.”
The game ended on a sour note as Dzuro was knocked out of the game on a late hit penalty on the game’s final play.
He was taken out on a stretcher, but Lombardo said he was talking and feeling all right as he left the field.
St. Edward ended the game on an untimed down, scoring one final touchdown to make it 42-39.
At game’s end, both Trivisonno and Lombardo considered facing each other again in the playoffs, much like they did last season.
“Oh, we’ll see them again — there’s never a doubt,” Trivisonno said.
“I told them we’ll do this again in November.”