by This game was expected to be a close one and that was exactly what we got with the Mentor Cardinals and the Medina Battling Bees. The Battling Bees got to a quick start with a solid return and a fast three plays to get in the endzone. QB Danny Stoddard connected with one of his favorite targets in Austin Knowles for the quick lead.
Mentor responded I just two plays to even up the ball game in the first quarter. A swing pass from Scotty Fox to Mitchell Waite set up the 26-yard pass play to Jacob Snow. The offensive onslaught only continued from that point on.
An interception gave Mentor the ball right back giving them a golden chance to get the lead early in the game. Chase Hull snuffed out the pass from Medina’s Stoddard to set up the go head touchdown from Fox to Nick Jares making the score 14-7 in favor of the Cardinals.
Medina’s high-powered offense did not get discouraged and kept looking for big plays to get into the endzone. Stoddard found his favorite option out wide on the day in Jack Wojciak for a 11-yard pass to tie the game up.
Medina found their grove early in the first half, scoring two more times unanswered to not just gain the lead but to grow it as well. Stoddard connects with Wojciak and Knowles on back-to-back possessions making the score 28-14.
Mentor had a tall task to make this a game, Scotty Fox answered the challenge as he made a fantastic throw to Jordan Stapleton who hauled in a leaping grab on the goal line to bring the game within one score 28-21. Mentor had a chance to tie the game in the second quarter but had to settle for the field goal 28-24.
Both teams scored touchdowns before the end of the half, Medina extended the lead. They gave the Cardinals to much time as they did score before half to bring it back within one score. 35-31 was the score to end the first half as the second half had a completely different pace as the first.
Mentor had a golden chance to take the lead, Medina’s defense stepped up in a big way as they forced Fox to fumble and brought it to the house for a scoop and score touchdown 42-31.
This was the last touchdown to the quarter thanks to both defenses stepping up big in the second half. The fourth quarter is when we finally saw both teams make big moves on offense.
Mentor showed up late in the half finally scoring to get back within a touchdown as they look to pull off the last second win on the road. Fox completed a screen pass to the always quick Mitchell Waite to make the score 45-38.
Medina got the ball on their own side of the field as they looked to ice the game as Mentor had three-time outs left. Mentor looked as if they were going to stall out and punt the ball giving Mentor the ball back with 1:30 left in the game.
On third down Stoddard throws a missile to Carlos Corchado for a 70-yard touchdown pass to out the game on ice and bring home the homecoming victory 52-38.
Danny Stoddard had himself a night going 24-44 with 431 yards, 6 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Despite the loss Scotty Fox put up an insane stat line going 35-45 with 497 yards, 5 touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Despite those stat lines how Back Attack Snacks player of the game ended up being Jack Wojciak who was everywhere on the field. 6 receptions, 173 yards and 3 touchdowns were good enough to secure player of the game.
Re-watch the game here with this link:
