The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mentor gets an early start
When a team’s goals are to get better each and every day, getting the earliest start possible to put that goal in motion is never a bad idea.
With that in mind, the Mentor football team hit the practice field at 8 a.m. on Aug. 1 — the official start date for all fall sports practices under the guidelines set by the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
Many, if not most, of The NewsHerald area football teams opted to wait until Monday, Aug. 2, to kick off their official fall practices.
“With the OHSAA allowing us to start Aug. 1, we wanted to get started right away,” said secondyear head coach Matt Gray.
“It’s a short camp. We’ve got three weeks to prepare for our seasonopener on Aug. 20, so we wanted to take advantage of all the time the state allows us to prepare for that.”
Gray’s first year at the helm of the Cardinals was a rousing success. Mentor finished 9-2 before losing to Pickerington Central, 38-31, in a Division I state semifinal in early November.
While it was a successful year, it was also a trying one thanks to the cloud of a coronavirus pandemic that is still hovering around the nation.
After a rookie season in which the start of practices were delayed, the regular season was abbreviated and attendance was limited, Gray said he was looking forward to a fall camp that was a little more normal. Even if COVID is still an issue to be concerned with.
“Last year we were breaking the team into groups and portions to practice,” he said. “It’s nice to get the whole team together from the start.”
The Cardinals hit the field for their first twohour practice while welcoming back five starters on offense — including a trio of returning offensive linemen.
While junior quarterback Jacob Snow is a firstyear starter, he did start Mentor’s state semifinal game against Pickerington Central when All-Ohioan Ian Kipp was unable to play. Snow responded by passing for 193 yards and two touchdowns in the 3831 loss.
Defensively, Mentor returns a half-dozen starters, including junior defensive end Brenan Vernon. A 6-foot-5, 250-pound fivestar recruit, recently gave his verbal commitment to the University of Notre Dame. Goals are obviously high. They always are at Mentor. But Gray said the mindset being driven home is for improvement.
“We’re not looking at final fours or state championships. That stuff takes care of itself if you take care of the task at hand every single day,” Gray said. “It’s real simple how we challenge the kids. Go out and get better each and every day. You’re not going to have huge growth one day after another. Have good day after good day and good moment after good moment.”
Mentor will scrimmage at Kenston on Aug. 6, and then host Chardon in an Aug. 13 scrimmage. The Cardinals open their regular season Aug. 20 at Canton McKinley.