Lake County Sentinel
Cardinals escape Tigers 35-27
BY JOEY SCHNEIDER
STAFF
(MENTOR, OH) - The undefeated, 4-0 Mentor Cardinals hosted the 2-2 Cleveland Heights Tigers, Friday night at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium in Mentor, on Mentor's Homecoming night and 2025 Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
The Cardinals were led by Senior quarterback and University of West Virginia commit Scotty Fox, as well as junior wide receiver Justen Hodge, and junior offensive lineman JoJo Luduca and Landry Brede, all of whom also have Division I College offers from around the county.
Cleveland Heights looked determined during warmups. They were led by senior running back and University of Kentucky commit Marquise Davis but played without star defensive end, senior Brandon Caesar due to injury. Caesar will be a teammate of Mentor's Scotty Fox next season as he is also committed to West Virginia.
The first quarter was punishing as Cleveland Heights marched down the field and scored on a Marquise Davis 26-yard touchdown run giving the Tigers the lead early on. Mentor answered back on a 4-yard run by junior running back Jackson Farley. The Celebration was short lived as Davis took the ball 80-yards for the second of his three touchdowns with 34 seconds left in the first quarter.
In quarter number two, it was all Mentor as the Cardinals scored early on a 14-yard pass from Scotty Fox to senior wide receiver Marcus Sierputowski. Mentor buckled down on defense stopped the Tigers all quarter, and after getting the ball back late in the half, Scotty Fox found a 5-yard connection with Jackson Farley with 19 seconds, and going into half time winning 21-13.
Half time was special for the newest members of the Mentor Cardinals Hall of Fame class of 2025, as a video played on the jumbo-tron from former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel congratulating them.
The Tiger again scored first in the second half on a 1-yard run by senior wide out Emere Atkins who played quarterback for most of the game. Cleveland Heights converted on the two-point attempt and the score was all tied up 21-21.
The Cardinals fired right back on the second play after the Tigers scoring drive, as Scotty Fox found Justen Hodge down the sideline for an 80-yard touchdown again giving the Cardinals the lead.
Cleveland Heights would again answer in what was a back and forth hard hitting affair as Marquise Davis would again find the end zone on a 7-yard dash. The Tigers would go for the two-point conversion to give them the lead, their first since quarter number one, but were shut down by the Cardinals defense. The conversion was no good and Mentor held strong at 28-27 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals would again score early in the fourth quarter as Scotty Fox took one step back in the pocket, then erupted right up the middle of the field for a 20-yard rushing touchdown extending Mentor's lead to 35-27 with 10:04 left in the game. Fox ended the night with three passing and one rushing touchdowns.
The Tigers looked to try and even things up, but Mentor's defense stepped up yet again and forced a turnover with around four minutes left in the game. Scotty Fox and the offense would not let it go to waste and orchestrated a drive that would eventually run out the clock and give Mentor the victory.
After the game Mentor's head coach Matt Grey was asked about the mental toughness it took to hold the lead in the fourth quarter. "We talk all the time about playing complimentary football. Offense, defense, special teams working together. We were able to get that stop with about four, four and a half minutes to go in the game, and we put it on our offense to say let's go, let's finish this thing off, and these guys really stepped up."
Mentor stayed undefeated and moves to 5-0 on the year and will again be at home next week to take on the River Rouge Panthers out of Michigan, while Cleveland Heights drops to 2-3 and will be traveling to Strongsville to face the Mustangs..
POSTED 09/21/2024 00:21
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Photo by Joey Schneider
