The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Hilltoppers happy with physical performance
It wouldn’t be fair to label the Chardon football team as being in “midseason form” after its 14-7 win over Mentor in a half of game-situation scrimmaging Aug. 21 at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium.
But considering his team’s performance in its first — and only — scrimmage of the preseason, and the crisp nature in which it happened, Chardon coach Mitch Hewitt indicated his team was exactly where he wanted it to be heading into next week’s season opener.
“The thing we’re most pleased with is we came out of here healthy,” Hewitt said. “In the last scrimmage, you have that fear you’re going to lose someone going into the season, but our kids played hard and executed well. I didn’t think we made as many mental mistakes (or) physical mistakes as I would have thought, it being our first scrimmage.
“I’m pleased with where we’re at.”
Chardon marched down the field on an 80-yard drive to start the game — twice going for it on fourth down — to take an early 8-0 lead on a Cade McDevitt touchdown run and a conversion run by James Pettyjohn.
Then after Nathanael Sulka intercepted a Mentor pass on the Cardinals’ first play from scrimmage, the Hilltoppers cashed in again on a Pettyjohn touchdown run.
Chardon didn’t score again, but got a very strong defensive effort to hold Mentor to only one touchdown in the 24-minute half of play.
Mentor played without All-Ohio quarterback Ian Kipp, who was wearing a walking boot after twisting his ankle this week in practice. Kipp characterized the inactive status as “precautionary” and he’ll be practicing Aug. 24.
“Obviously there’s not playing with all their horses. They’re a different team with those guys in there,” Hewitt said of the Cardinals, who got a rather strong performance from backup quarterback Jacob Snow with Kipp out of action. “We’re going to hang our hat on our defense.
We’ve got a lot of dudes on that side of the ball that I think can play at the next level. I think they showed up tonight.”
Sulka came up big with two interceptions.
“The first one was lucky because our outside linebacker Christian Hall tipped it, and it landed right in my bread basket,” Sulka said. “The second, the quarterback had to release it because of the pressure, so I knew it was coming.”
Capitalizing on the turnovers, especially the first one that helped Chardon take a 14-0 lead, was big, said Pettyjohn.
“That’s Chardon football for us,” he said. “It’s a mindset. We flip the switch and get it.”
After Snow’s initial pass was tipped and intercepted, he settled in and performed well. Running back Riley Coughlin had a strong night
running the ball.
Mentor got on the board when Snow scored on a keeper in the second quarter, but the Cardinals weren’t able to score on their final two possessions to even the score or take the lead.
“A lot of work to do,” firstyear Mentor coach Matt Gray said. “I think the thing I’m most displeased in was the physical level. Chardon was physical. We’ve got to do a better job of doing that. Myself as the head coach, I’ve got to get these guys ready to go and be in the right mentality to play physical football. Today we weren’t there.”
Mentor opens the season Aug. 28 at Medina, while Chardon hosts North.