FightingCardinal
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Mentor has completed their 2020 Varsity Football Schedule by adding Clarkson in Week #1...
Mentor Cardinals Football 2020
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MentorGrad2002
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Pretty sad we can't get any Ohio public's to play us. Team Canada plus the 2 big privates out of conference
Going to be a lot more Catholic schools on our schedule if the gcc breaks up
Going to be a lot more Catholic schools on our schedule if the gcc breaks up
MentorGrad2002
Well-known member
A lot of those other public's who are smaller are open enrollment or flat out recruit like crazy. That evens it out because mentor does neither
St Eds actually has a mid tier d1 enrollment. Maybe some public's should schedule them
Brunswick has 10 less boys than us. They have no issues scheduling. There are like 8 public's bigger than us and they have no issues. It's not an enrollment issue. It's because mentor is good and a victim of their own success.
OUcats82
Well-known member
Looking at the list of D1 publics with week one openings, several schools on the list seem to be in the same boat. A few that caught my eyes other than Mentor are Colerain, Davidson, Pick North.
MentorGrad2002
Well-known member
Columbus schools really don't like to travel up here. We've tried a ton in the past. They just don't want to play up here out of conference vs us.
We are playing team Canada and the 2 d1 Cleveland privates for a reason. Probably continue with them and a few smaller privates if the GCC splits and we have to go independent
We've played Moeller and X and Mooney and Ursuline in home and homes so obviously we would play non area public's too
cardzfan1234
Well-known member
The schedule is the same as 2019 except for swapping Shaker (left for the LEL) with Berea (thankfully they accepted).
What to expect in 2020? New coach Matt Gray has some incredibly big shoes to fill. Life after Triv will be a huge topic surrounding Mentor and NEO area football. QB Ian Kipp comes returns and will be considered one of the top players in Ohio considering his resume of wins, experience, production, and potential. A lot of the success on offense will hinge on Kipp's improvement. He did take positive steps forward from sophomore to junior year. Now he has to do it again for his senior season for Mentor to possibly be in the mix to win the league and make a playoff run.
Besides QB, there are a lot more questions than answers. The wide receiver pool has not shown the talent and depth we are used to during the past couple of seasons. Luke Floriea has been great, but after that is where Mentor has lacked some playmakers. It is great to have your talented QB back, but without a steady crew of receivers it will be a concern. I can't say that next year's receivers are going to be duds. But I also can't say that they are going to be good either.
At running back, Brian Trobel's graduation might hurt more than any other position. IMO, Trobel was the best RB that Triv ever had. He was a huge difference maker the past two seasons. When he was hurt, you saw the big decline in the offense. I do think that Riley Coughlin is a nice player. He showed in spurts his ability to bust some big runs. I believe he can step up and take on some of that burden left by Trobel. I look forward to seeing how he will do in the spotlight.
One area of returning strength should be on the lines. The offensive line returns three starters. The defensive line has an All-American freshman on their hands in Brenan Vernon. I expect Vernon to be an OSU kid eventually. I think he could take a big jump his sophomore season and be one of the top impact players at his position in all of NEO. That would be saying a lot for a sophomore. Along with Vernon, DT Preston Cardina (6'1, 280) and DE Greg Predina (6'4, 225) are returning starters up front on a defense that was as good as any Mentor has had the previous 15 years. That doesn't include an underclassmen or two that looked good rotating in.
At linebacker, Mentor takes a big hit to graduation. Evan Boyd is the only returning linebacker with a lot of experience. In the secondary, Mentor's starters were all seniors this past season. Lots of spots to fill there.
IMO, the team looks great at QB and defensive line. They look good at offensive line. After that, there are a lot of questions marks. If Coughlin can step up and have a big season, that will go a long way. I think this is an 8-2 season, but one or two wins either way is a strong possibility too depending on how things go. I would be pretty surprised with anything lower than 7 wins or higher than 9. Mentor might be the 2nd or 3rd best team in the region in 2020 if some wide receivers and linebackers step up.
What to expect in 2020? New coach Matt Gray has some incredibly big shoes to fill. Life after Triv will be a huge topic surrounding Mentor and NEO area football. QB Ian Kipp comes returns and will be considered one of the top players in Ohio considering his resume of wins, experience, production, and potential. A lot of the success on offense will hinge on Kipp's improvement. He did take positive steps forward from sophomore to junior year. Now he has to do it again for his senior season for Mentor to possibly be in the mix to win the league and make a playoff run.
Besides QB, there are a lot more questions than answers. The wide receiver pool has not shown the talent and depth we are used to during the past couple of seasons. Luke Floriea has been great, but after that is where Mentor has lacked some playmakers. It is great to have your talented QB back, but without a steady crew of receivers it will be a concern. I can't say that next year's receivers are going to be duds. But I also can't say that they are going to be good either.
At running back, Brian Trobel's graduation might hurt more than any other position. IMO, Trobel was the best RB that Triv ever had. He was a huge difference maker the past two seasons. When he was hurt, you saw the big decline in the offense. I do think that Riley Coughlin is a nice player. He showed in spurts his ability to bust some big runs. I believe he can step up and take on some of that burden left by Trobel. I look forward to seeing how he will do in the spotlight.
One area of returning strength should be on the lines. The offensive line returns three starters. The defensive line has an All-American freshman on their hands in Brenan Vernon. I expect Vernon to be an OSU kid eventually. I think he could take a big jump his sophomore season and be one of the top impact players at his position in all of NEO. That would be saying a lot for a sophomore. Along with Vernon, DT Preston Cardina (6'1, 280) and DE Greg Predina (6'4, 225) are returning starters up front on a defense that was as good as any Mentor has had the previous 15 years. That doesn't include an underclassmen or two that looked good rotating in.
At linebacker, Mentor takes a big hit to graduation. Evan Boyd is the only returning linebacker with a lot of experience. In the secondary, Mentor's starters were all seniors this past season. Lots of spots to fill there.
IMO, the team looks great at QB and defensive line. They look good at offensive line. After that, there are a lot of questions marks. If Coughlin can step up and have a big season, that will go a long way. I think this is an 8-2 season, but one or two wins either way is a strong possibility too depending on how things go. I would be pretty surprised with anything lower than 7 wins or higher than 9. Mentor might be the 2nd or 3rd best team in the region in 2020 if some wide receivers and linebackers step up.
WJ-OSU-STEELERS
Well-known member
A few of you mention that other public schools “don’t want to schedule Mentor” or “Columbus schools don’t want to travel up to Mentor” - is Mentor willing to play a home & away two game series or do a one year deal (away game only)? Columbus schools would have travel cost and perhaps want to play on a Saturday providing it doesn’t interfere with the Ohio State game. Maybe Mentor should offer some $$$ to get a Columbus team to travel 3 hours up I71. There are several Columbus public schools so scheduling isn’t as difficult, especially for school districts with multiple high schools (Dublin, Hilliard & Westerville have 3 each, Olentangy has 4). These schools often play one another in OOC games if they are not in the same league. Also, per the last enrollment #’s for males grades 9 thru 11, Mentor is a bit bigger than most Columbus D1 schools. Most Columbus D1 schools have around 750 boys or less compared to Mentor’s 937. I believe Pickerington Central has played an out of state team for the last 3 years or so, I would think they would be willing.
MentorGrad2002
Well-known member
Mentor has played home and home with multiple private schools from cincy in Moeller and x. So yes it's pretty obvious they would play public's from half that distance away which is Columbus compared to cincy
The mentor ad has tried many times with many of those schools. So have ignatius and eds. None of them will come up here to play us. Coffman came up to mentor once ... To play a decaying smaller division Lake Catholic program
WJ-OSU-STEELERS
Well-known member
Yes, Mentor is willing to travel because they have to as do the big Cincy Catholic schools. Most of the Columbus public’s (excluding Pickeringtin Central) do not have to travel to find OOC games. Why would say a Westerville South want to travel 3 hours one way to play, giving up a whole Saturday & getting back home at 1am-ish, renting 3+ travel buses (team & band), most likely taking a loss and having maybe 300 people in the visitor stands when they could play say Westerville Central or North, have a 10 minute drive, have at least a 50% chance at a win, not have overage $$$ in your travel budget and have 1,500 people on the stands. So again, what is Mentor $$$$$ doing/offering to teams to come 3 hrs north to play? I assume Mentor is paying something to get the Canadian team to play them.
MentorGrad2002
Well-known member
You are changing what you said. You asked in the previous post if Mentor is willing to play a home and home. I give you examples showing they will and you change your narrative
Mentor doesn't have to travel. They could get a Erie PA or Youngstown team closer. They play Lakota east in basketball away this year. Can schedule easier there. Same with the tournament in Bristol Tenn
Mentor does somewhat travel because public's are being pansies and won't play them. They also want challenges to get better as a program
All those schools you are saying have less enrollment still have to play mentor and the privates to win anything. Many not playing those type of schedules will never win anything. Pick Central does do that and they've won a few. Many of those others don't. And part of the reason is they don't schedule up
WJ-OSU-STEELERS
Well-known member
I think I said the same thing in both post - what is Mentor doing to encourage the Columbus schools to play them? If Mentor doesn’t have a problem with scheduling, then why care if they schedule a Columbus public? I agree with you that at some point a smaller public will run into either a big Catholic or big public school in the playoffs but for regular season scheduling purposes they appear to be doing what they feel is best for their program. I would guess with a new head coach and losing a couple of OSU caliber players to graduation that Mentor is probably ok with playing a Canadian team in week 1. You do what’s best for your program.
MentorGrad2002
Well-known member
We are offering a home game for each team. Mentor isn't going to play a one off in Columbus especially vs many of the teams that haven't done as much as Mentor. Also yes we pay Canada something but instead of doing that with cbus we offerthem a home game as well. Canada is paid because they get no home game
That's how teams schedule fairly.
And I care because I want to see games vs Ohio public's. So when most of them in D1 are being pansies and we have to play out of state or country teams , it gets annoying. Sack up and play teams.
WJ-OSU-STEELERS
Well-known member
Back to my Westerville South example - why should they do it when it will cost them more $$$ to play Mentor than a cross town rival? Mentor could offer that $$$ to a less established, less successful Ohio public instead of a Canadian team for Mentor home game only. Also, it’s a bit easier for Mentor to “sack up” and play, Mentor has had a very nice 20 year run and they are currently one of the big boys of Ohio football. Now the Mentor of say the 1980’s or 90’s would probably need to schedule a bit differently.
I agree with you, it would be nice to see more regular season games especially between the better central Ohio teams and teams from Cincinnati & Cleveland Regarding D1, the big Catholics and the big public’s (Colerain, Pickeringtin Central, Mentor, etc) those extra 200+ kids they have do provide extra depth which allows them to schedule extremely tough games week to week if they so choose to do. The Dublin & Hilliard schools are very competitive but if you reduced those districts from 3 high schools to just 2, I think they would make a difference.
I agree with you, it would be nice to see more regular season games especially between the better central Ohio teams and teams from Cincinnati & Cleveland Regarding D1, the big Catholics and the big public’s (Colerain, Pickeringtin Central, Mentor, etc) those extra 200+ kids they have do provide extra depth which allows them to schedule extremely tough games week to week if they so choose to do. The Dublin & Hilliard schools are very competitive but if you reduced those districts from 3 high schools to just 2, I think they would make a difference.
MentorGrad2002
Well-known member
Mentor in the 80s and 90s still played Canton McKinley and Solon and other schools. We were worse than them.
Mentor in the early 2000s and on would schedule Massillon and Ignatius and such and they were better than us at the time
We learned from those matchups and built ourselves up
Did it the right way too without recruiting and without boundaries outside of our one school district. Alot of these smaller public's are open enrollment or recruit which evens things out
People cite Mentor being huge but never mention the 8 public's bigger than us and schools with hardly any less boys than us like Brunswick. It's because those teams don't win.
MentorGrad2002
Well-known member
Any public school worth a damn that will play us.
Its ridiculous that Mentor has to play a team from Canada and St Eds because of all these public schools who won't play us. We have to schedule like a private school while being a clean program that runs like high school teams were meant to be run One school district that doesn't recruit or build all star teams from many counties
MentorGrad2002
Well-known member
I answered your question. I don't know what you are digging for. I'd literally be happy with any solid public school program that would play us. Davidson , Coffman , upper Arlington , pick Central ,colerain , McKinley , Warren Harding , etc etc
Pickeringtonsports
Well-known member
Has Mentor contacted Pickerington Central? I am not sure how well that would go for Mentor though. Some of these teams in Central Ohio have reputations based on past success but are not all that good right now. Hilliard Davidson being one of those teams. Pickerington North is not very good and will not be for the foreseeable future. Groveport was the best team Pick Central played last season but I am not sure what they have coming back. Most communities like Mentor split into multiple high schools. Olentangy has 4 high schools, Dublin 3, Hilliard 3, Westerville 3, Pickerington 2 etc...
So if I’m to make a quick review of this thread, it goes something like this. Every Public D1 school in the area needs to play Mentor or they’re SOFT. You owe it to Mentor to help them fill their schedule or you’re SOFT. Mentor has a few hundred boys more then most D1 schools BUT they don’t recruit so play them, even if it doesn’t make sense for your school or you’re SCARED.
I have an idea why doesn’t Mentor call up Bishop Gorman and go out to Vegas and see where they stack up.
I have an idea why doesn’t Mentor call up Bishop Gorman and go out to Vegas and see where they stack up.
MentorGrad2002
Well-known member
Why would we play a private school out of state when we play 2 in state already ?
When's the last time your school played anybody like that. ..
There's a reason Mentor is playing 2 privates and team canada out of conference. It's because none of your schools will play us.
The enrollment stuff is bs. There are 7 (corrected from 8) public's bigger than Mentor. Others like west Clermont , Brunswick and a few more have 22 or less boys than us. And we don't recruit at all or have any open enrollment. So I don't want to hear it.
And yes Mentor has called all of the Columbus schools in the past including pick Central. Mentor played St x after they clobbered us 27-0 in a title game. They don't shy from teams that have beaten them once or twice. Before 2017 Mentor would have beaten pick Central the majority of the time. Things go in cycles
Pickeringtonsports
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So the 2016 6-4 Mentor team that didn’t make the playoffs would have beaten the 13-2 Pickerington Central team? The 2015 PC team was 11-1 as well.
MentorGrad2002
Well-known member
Pretty confident our 2011-2014 teams would ...
Also I know you are cocky and think pick is some powerhouse but the game this year was a one score game. That's with a bs interception you guys were awarded and our QB getting hurt as we were driving to tie at the end of the game.
Mentor played St x after 27-0 as I said. They would play pc after 28-21....
Last time around you guys tried to play Euclid instead of mentor. Then Euclid pulled out to play McKinley
Pickeringtonsports
Well-known member
I also find it hard to believe that Mentor asked PC to play and we refused. Last year we went to Atlanta and Indiana in back to back weeks. We travel to Toledo and played Cass Tech a few years ago. In 2014 we played 10-1 Goose Creek South Carolina. In 2016 we played Elder down in Cincinnati. None of these games came with a return home game. So to insinuate that PC is ducking Mentor is ludicrous.
MentorGrad2002
Well-known member
Didn't say ducking. But you guys chose to try to get Euclid on your schedule over mentor for last year. Then Euclid pulled out.
I do think pick Central would be an option down the line. But they are one of the few. Most public's do duck Mentor which was my point.
Now you can leave the thread and make one about pick Central if you want the focus on them
PS you guys went 12-2 not 13_2 in 2016. And in 2015 you went 8-2 then lost in round one. So not sure how you got 11_1
Pickeringtonsports
Well-known member
I am cocky? Maybe but I am not the one complaining about everyone being afraid to play us. If PC isn’t a powerhouse then who is? Two D1 State Championships in 3 years is pretty good. And just to be clear, PC played without their leading RB in 2017 and their best player played through an injury this year that required surgery as soon as the season ended. This significantly limited his touches. I agree the game was close, Mentor is a great team no doubt. Maybe we will play again in November.
MentorGrad2002
Well-known member
Talk about PC in your thread. This is the mentor thread. If I want to complain about teams ducking us in OUR thread I will ...
Beside you can't even get the records right of your school from 2015 and 2016 man. Must be Johnny come lately fan
Pickeringtonsports
Well-known member
You are correct, 2014 was 11-1