The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
IT’S IN THE CARDS
Mentor takes the field for its Division I playoff game against Stow-Munroe Falls on Oct. 16. The Cardinals won, 31-14, to advance to the next round. High school football coverage starts on
The Mentor football team has been known as a light-upthe scoreboard, offensive freak show for quite a few years.
The Cardinals showed Oct. 16 they can still win games with defense and special teams, though.
Mike Harrison returned the second-half kickoff for 93 yards and a touchdown, Andrew Smith booted a 50-yard field goal, and the Mentor defense
came up with some big stops as the Cardinals defeated visiting Stow-Munroe Falls, 31-14, in a Division I, Region 1 quarterfinal at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium.
The win puts Mentor (7-1) in a regional semifinal next week against Brunswick, a 27-14 upset winner over Canton McKinley. Mentor defeated Brunswick, 38-0, earlier this season.
It’s not that Mentor’s offense, which accounted for 407 yards (297 on the ground) didn’t do its part. Paced by a bludgeoning running game, the Cardinals piled up the yardage and the points. But this night had defense and special teams written all over it.
“They were awesome. They were awesome,” said Mentor coach Matt Gray, repeating himself for emphasis. “We started the second half with Mike Harrison’s kickoff return. We blocked it right, Mike hit the seam and went with it.
“That really changed the confidence and momentum of the game. And the defense stepped up time after time after time.”
Mentor held a snug 14-7 lead at the half despite dominating in yardage and time of possession. An interception in the end zone in the first quarter and a fumble in the red zone late in the second quarter kept it from being a more lopsided score than it could have been at intermission.
Mentor got out of its own way in the third quarter, and that spelled doom for Stow-Munroe Falls.
First, Harrison ignited his team by returning the third-quarter kickoff 93 yards for the score to make it a 21-7 game.
Then Mentor’s defense force a three-and-out, with senior nose guard Preston Cardina making two tackles-for-loss in the series.
After a punt by the Bulldogs, Mentor drove down and punched in another score on a Riley Coughlin touchdown run that made it 28-7.
Stow never again got within a score.
“It was a game-changer,” Cardina said of Harrison’s kickoff return, which motivated the Mentor defense to get another stop.
“Our defense from the jump has worked together,” Cardina said. “We just have that mindset out there. We worked our butts off in practice very single day, and it showed tonight.”
Stow-Munroe Falls twice was turned away in the red
zone by Mentor’s defense. The Cardinals fumbled after one of the stops, giving the Bulldogs point-blank range to score in the fourth on an Xavier Preston run that cut Mentor’s lead to 28-14.
But midway through the fourth, the Cardinals got some insurance via Smith’s 50-yard field goal — a kick that might have been good from 55-60.
“Forty-six was my best, at
Medina,” Smith said. “This one topped it.
“It was a great snap, a great hold by (Eric) Coode, and you saw the rest.”
Mentor’s defense got one last stop — and then turned it over to the Cardinals’ offense to run out the clock over the last handful of minutes of the game.
Coughlin led Mentor’s offense with 168 yards rushing on 22 carries. Quarter
back Ian Kipp ran for 92 yards and also completed 7 of 16 passes for 110 yards.
Evan Harper had a pair of catches for 55 yards, each of which kept alive potential scoring drives for the Cardinals.
“We wanted to come out and establish the run,” Gray said. “We’ve been effectively throwing the ball the last couple weeks. ... We kind of held (Coughlin) back the
last several weeks. We knew once we got to crunch time in the playoffs, we were going to unleash him.”
Coughlin also had a touchdown run in the first half, as did Kipp.
For Stow-Munroe Falls, Jack Bryden ran for 91 yard and a touchdown. Quarterback Owen Bainbridge ran for 41 yards and was also 12for-24 for 123 yards through the air.