Division 1 State Semi-Final: Mentor (9-1) vs Pickerington Central (10-0)

Now that the rumor mill is squashed, let's look at this game.

The Tigers are loaded, no doubt about it. From a Northeast Ohio perspective, I look at them as having the talent of Glenville mixed with the culture of Solon and coaching of St Ignatius. Quite a combination. Mentor's defense will have their hands full. They will HAVE to find a way to stuff the run on 1st down. Stretch out the possessions on offense more than usual. The hurry up offense may not be in their advantage this week. Mentor needs to keep their defense off the field as long as possible. Mentor hasn't faced a defense as good as Pick Central. St Eds was good on defense, but PC is really, really good.

Kipp has to be the best player on the field tomorrow for Mentor to even sniff at a close 4th quarter. Pickerington has probably eight of the top ten players in this game. Probably 14 or 15 of the top 20. A huge talent advantage. If Mentor can execute their game plan extremely well on both sides of the ball, they can hang long enough. Winning the turnover margin is imperative.

I would really like to see Mentor go with four lineman in this game. Bring in LoDuca up the middle to join Cardina. Those two big boys can really eat up the inside. That will allow the ends to do their jobs. Bringing a linebacker to the line of scrimmage against this team rather than a second tackle is just a huge mistake. It is a mistake I expect the Mentor DC Funk to continue to make. Hopefully I'm wrong.
 
claynation said:
I will be very surprised if the player plays tonight. We will see, I guess. But this is all anyone at MHS is talking about; I'm definitely not making anything up.
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You do know mentor people talk right ? Cardz told me you said everyone is cleared now so that's good for the kids ...


You said all players received clearance yesterday morning talking to him. This after talking worst case scenario for mentor and all that crap ..now you are reversing again

Players suddenly shifts to just a player ... Everyone in mentor is talking on it yet family and actual players don't know about this ..and if they were sworn to secrecy , how would random internet guy find out ?

Worst case scenario for mentor would be the qb. I had oline players say he's fine and the rumors are false. Coaches said there is nothing to it either

You are full of crap. And a sick person to use covid to troll
 
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I didn't come in here to "troll." But I've deleted my posts since apparently everyone thinks that was my purpose. I want Mentor to win and hope all of their normal starters can play, but based on what I've heard this week, I have my doubts. Go Cards.
 
claynation said:
I didn't come in here to "troll." But I've deleted my posts since apparently everyone thinks that was my purpose. I want Mentor to win and hope all of their normal starters can play, but based on what I've heard this week, I have my doubts. Go Cards.
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Ah so now it's back to players instead of one player. Good to know you aren't consistent again
 
From the new Philadelphia area, curious how many d1 athletes does each team I have I know there’s a few but not an exact number
 
claynation said:
I didn't come in here to "troll." But I've deleted my posts since apparently everyone thinks that was my purpose. I want Mentor to win and hope all of their normal starters can play, but based on what I've heard this week, I have my doubts. Go Cards.
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I don’t doubt what you may have heard, but if you’re not getting first hand information, false rumors have a tendency to cascade. There were several positive test results at the high school among students and teachers. Some students were strictly online students that have not been inside the school. Some teachers are part time or subs that have not been inside the building in over a week. A player may have a class with someone who had a positive test. The rumors begin, and the next thing you know, people are spreading false rumors about players testing positive. I don’t like to comment about rumors, because it just propagates into more rumors, but unless you have first hand knowledge, it’s best not to assume what you may have heard is true.
 
cardzfan1234 said:
Mentor has two (senior QB and sophomore DE)

I'm assuming at this point that PC has at least 33 DI guys
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Hehehehe, at least......... Truthfully there are probably 6 or 7 in this senior class. Probably another 5 are juniors, and even a couple of sophomores are getting early looks. The kicker to me is, don't get me wrong Styles, Wallace, Mosely etc.. are great players, but some the other lesser known players that are great are under the radar like a few of the linebackers and O'linemen, but considered undersized.
 
Well if this rumor of Covid is false there is a lot of traction coming out of Mentor. I pray that this is in fact just a rumor. What a way to go out if it is true. Best of luck to Mentor..
 
cardzfan1234 said:
Mentor has two (senior QB and sophomore DE)

I'm assuming at this point that PC has at least 33 DI guys
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Garner Wallace - Northwestern
Lorenzo Styles - Notre Dame
Nick Mosley - Bowling Green
Alex Styles - Indiana, OSU
AJ Sanders - Northern Illinois
Kyle Imboden - Cincinnati
CJ Doggette - 7 offers
Tyler Gillison - Toledo, several others
Kobi Gorman - Indiana
Kobe Asamoah - Akron, Rutgers
Quinn Wills - Butler
Dakari Frazier - Toledo, others
Jordan Howard - Muskingum D2
Sirron Smith - Tho. Moore NAIA
Possibly a few more since I compiled this list.
 
PickTownTigers said:
Garner Wallace - Northwestern
Lorenzo Styles - Notre Dame
Nick Mosley - Bowling Green
Alex Styles - Indiana, OSU
AJ Sanders - Northern Illinois
Kyle Imboden - Cincinnati
CJ Doggette - 7 offers
Tyler Gillison - Toledo, several others
Kobi Gorman - Indiana
Kobe Asamoah - Akron, Rutgers
Quinn Wills - Butler
Dakari Frazier - Toledo, others
Jordan Howard - Muskingum D2
Sirron Smith - Tho. Moore NAIA
Possibly a few more since I compiled this list.
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A mismatch for sure. Mentor’s Kipp has to be the best player on the field somehow. That won’t be easy with this kind of talent opposing him. PC is loaded. Mentor is solid, but far from their most talented rosters. Mentor needs to be +2 in turnovers to win this game.
 
can't find a sandbag emoji so..........yeh

You didn't get where you are by being average. No one from Central is taking this game lightly. Last year was a dogfight.
 
thedudeabides said:
can't find a sandbag emoji so..........yeh

You didn't get where you are by being average. No one from Central is taking this game lightly. Last year was a dogfight.
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Once again sandbagging claims are stupid. We are honest. Last year's team was way better than this year's. I actually think we should have beat pc last year. Had a lot go against us and lost by a td

This year's team is our 10th best by my count. It's not nearly as good.

There's no reason to lie on a message board. I've been saying pc and x are the best 2 teams all year. If we win it's a huge upset

And I mean if this covid crap somehow is true in the end , then pc could name their score

Message board users don't contribute to a win or loss. The team won't be boosted if I boost them up. I gain no self esteem if they win or lose it if they lose. I don't effect the game . Nor do you guys
 
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Agree, It's just fun to talk the game. A way to show support for your team. Good luck tonight. Let's hope for an injury free game. Weather should be beautiful. Wish I wasn't going to be in the barcalounger.
 
thedudeabides said:
Agree, It's just fun to talk the game. A way to show support for your team. Good luck tonight. Let's hope for an injury free game. Weather should be beautiful. Wish I wasn't going to be in the barcalounger.
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Well let's hope for a covid free game. Cuz if this crap is true , the game is over before it starts. Would be like we had to forfeit
 
Knights By 40 said:
Props to Mentor for making it this far but I cant see them coming within 20 points tonight.
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I could have seen them keeping it to 2 TDs and pulling out a win in extreme scenarios (i.e. referee favoritism that PC enjoyed in last year's game and/or fluky turnovers), but I believe the rumors are true, and in the worst way.

Not that it matters too much...as others have said, this is not a great Mentor team. It's a Mentor team that would win R3 almost every year if they switched places with PC, but we all know that's not saying much.

That outside chance of a Mentor win (~5% in my estimation) seems to be down to <<<1%.
 
Menner said:
I could have seen them keeping it to 2 TDs and pulling out a win in extreme scenarios (i.e. referee favoritism that PC enjoyed in last year's game and/or fluky turnovers), but I believe the rumors are true, and in the worst way.

Not that it matters too much...as others have said, this is not a great Mentor team. It's a Mentor team that would win R3 almost every year if they switched places with PC, but we all know that's not saying much.

That outside chance of a Mentor win (~5% in my estimation) seems to be down to <<<1%.
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I mean if covid happens it's absolutely zero chance. Heck Mentor could lose to stow if the rumors they say on here end up being right ..

I had it at 10-15 percent before this which isn't very confident.
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
I mean if covid happens it's absolutely zero chance. Heck Mentor could lose to stow if the rumors they say on here end up being right ..

I had it at 10-15 percent before this which isn't very confident.
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You have to account for zombies, asteroids, etc. Gotta set it at 0.01% or something.

It's what all the great sports handicappers do.
 
Menner said:
You have to account for zombies, asteroids, etc. Gotta set it at 0.01% or something.

It's what all the great sports handicappers do.
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Well yeah maybe if the whole pc starting lineup got food poisoning. It would be our luck to have this be true as I've said. I said we've lost every possible way on our deep runs. Didn't factor in pandemic
 
claynation said:
I thought you said I was “spreading BS”?
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I don't believe in spreading rumors on a message board. And I think you heard something off hand on it.

I'll still wait to see if it's true. You aren't a mentor poster nor do you have inside info. And your story changed 3 times.

Other people have talked to me later in the day now saying stuff is possible. People who are mentor posters so now I'll see.
 
If it's any consolation, If Mentor was in PA, they would probably be close to having at least 5 state championships. Sometimes we're just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Go Cards. I know they are a big underdog, but I've seen enough of their games to know that they are fighters and have a TON of heart. Have beaten many teams over the years that on paper were better than them. And yes, in order to win, they will need help via turnovers, special teams play, blown call, etc... But that's why they play the game. And as long as the kids believe they can win, they don't have to be the better team. They only have to be the better team-- TODAY!
 
claynation said:
Spoiler alert, you’re going to see some backups starting tonight.
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Well then it won't be a game. Especially if it's the QB. Funny how you still bounce from one player to multiple players. Back and forth. Clearly hearing rumors prob based off people hearing from other people.
 
I know I asked this before and maybe missed an answer . When a team is this far in the playoffs and you are the home team, does the OHSAA allow the home team to have there band at the game ?
 
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