I hate to see this for Mentor, especially on the heels of what was likely a final four berth last year in basketball taken away (Mentor was better than Shaker ... hence beating them twice in the regular season).
Now this???
I know the Mentor people here weren't sold on this being one of their best teams. Maybe it wasn't, but I never saw it as a team that couldn't win a state title. Tonight showed it, but they didn't have what likely would have been the best player (between the two teams) on the field... who happens to play the most important position for a reason sounds like out of his control.
There is no way to downplay that, regardless of how well the sophomore played in Kipp's place. Say what you want where this group would stack up against the all time Mentor teams, but it was one that nearly navigated a very tough schedule undefeated (the GCC overall was as tough as it has been for Mentor even going back to the NOC).
This was a very good team that could have beaten anybody in Ohio. Absolutely sucks to see it end in this fashion, especially when the basketball team never got its shot to even finish its season last year.