April 29, 2024
Football / High School / Written Content

Mentor’s First Half Flurry Lifts Cardinals, 27-12

Tyler Stotskyby Tyler Stotsky

EUCLID, Ohio – The Mentor Cardinals (2-0) rode the arm and the legs of senior signal-caller Ian Kipp en route to a 27-12 win over the Euclid Panthers (1-1) at Euclid Community Stadium on Friday (Sept. 4) night.

Kipp did it all on the ground and in the air, fueling the Cardinals’ first half run of 27 unanswered points. After senior running back Riley Coughlin was out with an injury, Kipp stepped up and took charge of the Cardinals in advance of the game Friday.

Kipp totaled 426 yards of offense for Mentor for the night, between the ground and air attack. He threw for 341 yards on 16 completions along with nine rushes for 85 yards. Overall, he was 16-of-29 with three touchdowns.

“We thought we did a great job preparing this week and building on last week. We know we have to get better because we have a big one next week (St. Ed’s),” said Mentor head coach Matt Gray.

When asked about Kipp’s ability to step up when others are down, Gray said, “He’s on the sideline, “Give me the ball, give me the ball, give me the ball. He’s the consummate winner — the consummate leader. All he wants to do is see this football team win. That’s what we love about him.”

Euclid came out firing on a four play, 80 yard drive in the opening minute of the game. Malachi Davis found Armond Scott for a 16-yard score. The extra point was blocked by Brenan Vernon as Euclid led 6-0.

Gray on the quick response, “John read the coverage perfectly and ran the slant and took it to the house. That was key because our guys just needed to relax and play our game.”

We thought we might have a shootout on our hands as Mentor wasted little time responding to Euclid’s early haymaker. On the third play of Mentor’s first drive, Kipp found John Sierputowski open for a 56-yard slant and Mentor took their first lead of the game forty seconds later, 7-6. The Cardinals weren’t done there on offense.

Following back-to-back punts for the Panthers, Mentor added ten more points in the first quarter for a 17-6 advantage. Andrew Smith converted a 39-yard field goal and Kipp connected with Evan Harper for a four-yard score.

Despite struggling on offense, the Euclid defense was able to force two takeaways in the final two minutes of the first quarter on a pair of fumbles. After Eric Coode fumbled after a Kipp completion, Davis was picked off by Eriq Martemus on the second play of the drive. Euclid forced Brenden Panhorst to fumble the ball on Mentor’s next possession, recovered by Cam Smith.

“There’s no excuses to be made,” Euclid coach Jeff Rotsky said about his team’s efforts. “We needed to score in the red zone in the first half, and it would have been a different game.

“We were right there. We had every opportunity. We just didn’t get it to a one-score game. We moved the ball from the 30-to-the-30 and then peter out.”

A key 40-yard completion from Davis to Jaylen Morris put Euclid in the red zone as the second quarter began with the Cardinals leading 17-6.

Euclid could not capitalize on a defensive pass interference call in the red zone as two negative plays followed before Aidan Turos missed a 39-yard field goal wide left.

Andrew Smith scored the only points of the second quarter on a 36-yard field goal with :50 seconds left in the first half. Mentor led 20-6 at the intermission.

Just like the first drive of the game, Mentor opened the half with a quick flurry through the air. The Kipp to Sierputowski connection went for 43 yards before Kipp tossed his third touchdown pass, a 30-yard dart to Hutch Baird. Mentor’s lead grew to 27-6 with one minute gone by in the third quarter.

Euclid put a drive together to slow the momentum down by the Cardinals. On the tenth play of the drive, Davis saw Claishon Ivory on the right sideline for a 53-yard touchdown pass. The Panthers went for two and came up short. Mentor’s 27 point swing was halted, but the Cardinals still led 27-12 with 6:09 left in the third quarter.

The defenses stiffened up as there was only one first down allowed over the course of three and a half drives left in the third quarter.

Ivory ended the third quarter with a nine-yard catch as Euclid tried to fuel some momentum into the fourth quarter.

The drive ended up stalling as Mentor was able to stop the Panthers on third down, forcing a punt.

With a short field after the punt, the Cardinals got a 32-yard catch from Eric Coode. Smith missed a 34-yard field goal wide right three plays later.

The Panthers struggled to take advantage of missed opportunities as the missed field goal only led to a three and out for the home team.

Following a great catch and run from Panhorst into the red zone, he fumbled the ball for the second time, giving it back to the Panthers with 6:52 left. Ahjay Cody made the recovery on the sideline.

With time running out for the Panthers, Evan Boyd and Vernon combined on a key sack of Davis, all leading to a botched punt for the Panthers. After a 23 yard punt, Mentor started deep in Euclid territory as they looked to make it a three possession game. Smith could not hit the 41-yard field goal with 4:36 left as he hooked the kick wide right for the second straight time.

With 2:35 left, Davis put the fourth down throw in the turf as Mentor sealed the 27-12 victory with the victory formation on enemy ground.

With the win Friday, Mentor has now won 13 of the last 15 games against Euclid. The series now sits at 27-17 Mentor.

Mentor, as a whole, churned out 470 yards of total offense, compared to Euclid’s 324.

Despite being down a starting running back, Mentor outrushed Euclid 129-65 and held Euclid’s back Atiba Fitz to 52 yards on six carries.

“That’s the staple of our defense,” Gray said, “being able to create disruption and create pressure. They did a great job of handling that and they stepped up to that challenge of playing physical football, winning the line of scrimmage.”

Mentor’s passing game worked against a tough secondary as the Cardinals put up 341 passing yards to 259 for the Panthers. Kipp got key contributions from a number of wideouts in the game: Coode (4 catches for 37 yards), Baird (3-73, 1 TD), Harper (3-99, 1 TD) and Scerpatowski (2-99, 1 TD).

Davis finished just his second start with 17-of-27 passing for 259 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Ivory was the leading receiver for Euclid with five catches for 84 yards.

Mentor will gear up for a matchup with the St. Edward’s Eagles next Friday at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Eagles twice last season by one point each, including a Regional Final victory. Euclid will travel to Cleveland Heights next week.

Player of the Game: Ian Kipp, QB – 426 total yards, 341 passing yards on 16 completions, 85 rushing yards on nine rushes, three touchdowns

Tyler Stotsky

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