by Another edition of Friday Night Football took place in Lorain on this surprisingly warm night with some great action from both teams. The Lorain Titans, who came into this game at 2-6 vs The Mentor Cardinals who were undefeated for the season at 8-0. With the playoffs in the horizon, Mentor wanted to continue gearing up for that level of play while the Titans looked to build some confidence going into the end of the season. I had a feeling that it was going to be a high action contest from start to finish and this game did not disappoint!
The game started off with the Titans receiving the ball and running into some great defense. They made some progress with their QB change mid drive from #5 Leonard McCall to #9 David Whitaker. They pushed the ball to their 40 yard line. That is when Mentor took charge of the possession and upped the defensive pressure to cause a turnover on downs. The Cardinals then proceeded to score in 3 plays on a pitch play to #25 Jackson Farley for 65 yards and scored the first touchdown of the game. The Titans were in the same exact situation, being able to get some good yardage on their side of the field and then an injury to #9 David Whitaker switched that momentum and ended in a punt. The Cardinals ran a few run plays to test the defense and then #13 Brogan Jones threw a 54 yard touchdown pass that looked like it sat in the air for a whole minute to #1 Justen Hodge and made the score 14-0 to end the first.
The 2nd quarter started pretty fast as the Titans get forced into another turnover on downs. Mentor gets the ball on their side of their field and #6 Carson Wolk took it down for a 14 yard touchdown to make the score 21-0. Cardinals force a 3&out and weren’t able to connect on another touchdown but were able kick a successful field goal to make the score 24-0. It was a rather slow quarter after the first touchdown with some great defense from both sides. As both teams went back to the locker room to prepare for the 2nd half, it was a radiating feeling in the air that the game was essentially done.
Third Quarter is where the game picked up. From the first drive of the game with a Touchdown pass to #15 Sebastian Bartulovic from Mentor. Great defense from the Cardinals leading to another punt and then a pick by the Titans to take it down the field 60 yards and finally connecting passing touchdown on the 1 yard line from Whitaker to #4 Jazion Moore. With Mentor returning the favor yet again with a 78 yard passing touchdown to #1 Justen Hodge once again. The whole third quarter as ACTION PACKED and full of entertainment the whole way through.
The 4th quarter was resemblant of the 2nd quarter, slow paced, conservative football, for both teams. Who, had every right to coast the rest of the way as the hard work from the entire season paid off through multiple quick attacks for 38 points. This game showcased that Mentor will be force to be reckoned with once the playoffs come around. Now with both teams gearing up for their last game of the season, Mentor can rest their head on 38-6 win as Lorain will have to go back to the film room to access their mistakes and improve on an unfortunate season
