by 
By: Tyler Danburg
TWINSBURG, OH– It was yet another frigid night for postseason football, this time for the Regional Semi-Final, as the #4 Canton-McKinley Bulldogs (9-2) took on the top ranked, #1 Mentor Cardinals (11-0).
The Bulldogs certainly earned their spot in the Regional Semis, prevailing over the #5 Solon Comets in a 29-25 victory coming down to the wire. Contrarily, Mentor led the whole game in their 48-7 dismantling of #8 Cleveland Heights.
Hours before the game got underway, the maintenance staff at Twinsburg High School worked tirelessly to get the many remaining inches of snow off the field. Sometimes you just have to give credit where credit is due, clearing the field for kickoff.
Mentor kicked off to McKinley to start the game, and the Bulldogs started to get the ball rolling on the ground, getting two first downs from star running back Lameir Garrett, who ran for 182 yards and three touchdowns against Solon last week. But Mentor’s top-tiered defense came to play from the start, as Bulldogs QB Elijah Wesley was picked off by Mentor’s Marco Toth at the McKinley 35.
Mentor rode the momentum from the Toth pick and into the offensive game, as Cardinals running back Brian Trobel ran the ball into the end zone for a 15-yard score, his fourth in the past two games. “The O-Line played great, and the running game worked to keep us going,” Trobel said. He was only just getting started for the Cards offense.
Following another Canton-McKinley punt, the Cardinals took over on their own 15 yard line this time having to go 85 yards down field. But Brian Trobel scampered for 51 total yards on the drive, but Mentor was held to a field goal to make it 10-0.
But McKinley’s offense was failed by their special teams unit, as Mentor Kicker Andrew Smith sent a pooch kick off the hands of a McKinley returner. What followed two plays later was another Brian Trobel touchdown, this time on a screen pass from Ian Kipp, and taking it 54 yards after the catch, to make it 17-0 Mentor through one quarter.
Canton-McKinley needed an answer in the second quarter trailing by 17, and got it. After leading the Bulldogs offense down the field, running back Lameir Garrett capped off the drive with an impeccable 10-yard touchdown run switching directions and slipping tackles to cut the Mentor lead down to 10.
McKinley’s defense on the insuing end made a game-changing play, forcing a fumble from Mentor quarterback Ian Kipp as the Cardinals were one yard away from another touchdown. Bulldogs linebacker Emmanuel Powell picked it up to make it first down McKinley on their own 16 yard line.
Three McKinley offensive plays later, Mentor defensive back Devin Harper picked off Wesley for Mentor’s second interception of the game. That set up Brian Trobel’s third touchdown of the game, running it in from one yard out. This was the second consecutive game in which the state MVP candidate Trobel has scored three times. Mentor quickly stopped McKinley’s pistol offense and set up a successful 44-yard field goal from Cardinals Jr. Andrew Smith at the horn to make it 27-7 Mentor at halftime.
Despite trailing by 20 points at the end of the first half, Canton-McKinley came out firing on all cylinders on their first possession. Bulldogs running back Lameir Garrett had two chunk runs of 29 yards each, and finished with a three-yard touchdown and his second rushing touchdown of the ball game. Mentor blocked the point after try, but McKinley now found themselves down by only two scores.
It was Mentor’s turn to play the silencer offensively. The defense had truly bailed them out in a second half in which the high-octane Cardinals offense punted on three straight possessions. The Cardinals were due for a scoring opportunity, and it was aided by Brian Trobel’s 51-yard display of speed to put Mentor in the red zone. Mentor QB Ian Kipp put the game away finding his main target Luke Floriea in the far side of the end zone to make it 34-13 with 4:36 left to go in the game. After a time-consuming march down field, McKinley’s season hopes were dashed after turning it over on downs after QB Elijah Wesley muffed the snap.
Mentor now advances to 13-0 overall on the season with their 34-13 victory over the now eliminated Canton-McKinley Bulldogs, who end their season at 9-3. Cardinals Head Coach Steve Trivisonno on the win said “It’s good to get through that…[Brian Trobel] did a great job, and the running game worked very well for us. But there are many things we didn’t do well today.” The Cardinals will go on to face St. Edward in the heavily-anticipated rematch of Mentor’s 29-28 victory over St. Ed’s in the 2019 season’s opener.
