The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Kenston, Mentor pleased with opening scrimmage
The Mentor and Kenston football teams got their first glimpse of what their teams might look like this fall when they got together at Bomber Stadium on Aug. 6 for a threeway scrimmage that also included Warren Harding.
Coming off a COVID-shortened 2020 season, Mentor coach Matt Gray and Kenston coach Jeff Grubich weren’t exactly sure how their teams would perform.
After three hours of scrimmaging, including situational series in the red zone, both coaches came away with the same assessment. Not bad.
Not bad at all.
“You always worry about your first scrimmage, especially coming off a year like we had last year,” Grubich said. “Our kids came out today, competed and responded. We had some success. Even with negative plays, we coached them up and made corrections.
“I’m pretty happy with our effort today.”
Gray’s analysis was pretty similar.
“It was a good three hours of working in different situations and scenarios,” he said. “Most importantly, we were able to see some different schemes and different teams. I thought our players reacted pretty well.”
Each team got two sets of 10 offensive plays and two sets of defensive plays against the opposing defenses.
While all the teams had success moving the ball in stints, the only touchdown came when Mentor’s junior quarterback Jacob Snow hit Evan Harper on an 80-yard go-route for a touchdown against Kenston.
“He’s got all the physical tools to be extremely successful. When he puts it all together mentally, the sky’s the limit for that young man.” Mentor coach Matt Gray on QB Jacob Snow
Snow’s first varsity start was in Mentor’s state semifinal loss to Pickerington Central last year when Ian Kipp was unable to play.
Quarterbacks from all three teams in the Aug. 6 scrimmage were — understandably — protected by yellow jerseys and quick whistles. That took away from a significant part of Snow’s game, which includes exceptional scrambling ability, but Gray gave his junior signal-caller a thumbs-up.
“He’s just got to continue getting better and better and learning the system,” Gray said of Snow. “Teams are going to challenge him in different ways. He’s got to be able to understand it from the mental side. He’s got all the physical tools to be extremely successful. When he puts it all together mentally, the sky’s the limit for that young man.”
Snow also hit Mikey Norwood on a nice corner route for the score, and Brendan Panhorst ran hard behind the offensive line for the Cardinals.
Kenston didn’t score in the series of 10, but when the teams got into redzone plays the Bombers had quite a bit of success, with junior QB Nikki Georgiou running the offense. Georgiou threw a couple of nice scoring passes to 6-foot-6 tight end/receiver Ryan Miller, and Indiana University commit.
One of those passes, Miller reached back over a defender to catch the ball for the score.
JP Germano also showed strong skills in catching the ball, while speedy Sean Patrick hit paydirt too.
“Nikko’s a kid who grinded in the offseason,” Grubich said. “He did everything to improve himself. He really hit the weight room hard. He’s a blue-collar kid. Love him.”
With the skill set around him, including Ben DiMarco and Sean Patrick in the backfield — the tools are there for a high-powered offense. Kenston showed glimpses of that against Mentor and Warren Harding.
“We’ve got guys all around (Georgiou),” Grubich said. “Any one of them can make a play at any time. I tell ya what, I was impressed with those five guys up from. (The offensive line) did a great job.”
Left tackle Cale Doyle, who recently picked up scholarship offers from Butler and Georgetown, held his own against Mentor defensive end Brenan Vernon, a five-star recruit who is committed to the University of Notre Dame.
Against Warren Harding, Vernon got a lot of double-team blocks — which allowed for teammates around him to make plays — but Doyle did a lot of work on his own.
“I thought he did great today,” Grubich said of Doyle.
Gray and Grubich said they want and need continued improvement as the regular season approaches on Aug. 20.
In the final scrimmage tuneup next week, Mentor hosts Chardon on Aug. 12, while Kenston travels to Westlake for an Aug. 12 scrimmage.