Mentor Cardinals Football 2021

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Cardsfan89 said:
Guys, you're both taking my observation personally, and it was not intended that way. I was wrong, Mentor never seems to need to be punched in the face to wake up. I'm sorry I brought it up.

I had some time this weekend to make some observations...didn't mean to touch on something so sensitive. You're right, I'm wrong - problem solved.
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That post seems like pure projection there. This is a message board. People will agree with you sometimes as I did above. People will disagree with you sometimes which I'm doing on this point. Nobody is offended by your posts just because we think it's wrong and not factual

Every team gets punched in the mouth at times. Nobody said Mentor has never faced this . Still they've been up on teams at the start way more than they've been down.

We all cheer for Mentor. Your opinions are welcome. We won't always agree or disagree and that's good. More posters from Mentor are needed so stick around and give input often
 
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FightingCardinal said:
Snow is out 4-7 weeks with the broken thumb. Hopefully he will be recovered for the As an out of state follower of NE Ohio football, I’ve watched Mentor dominate year after year. They always seem to reload, and pick up where they left off. So what’s different this year ? Due to lack of information, I honestly don’t know. For those of you who are there, what happened ? Did the Cards get decimated by graduation ? Major injuries ? A combination of both ? Please let me know, as I am totally bewildered and surprised by this seasons team.
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buckeye53 said:
As an out of state follower of NE Ohio football, I’ve watched Mentor dominate year after year. They always seem to reload, and pick up where they left off. So what’s different this year ? Due to lack of information, I honestly don’t know. For those of you who are there, what happened ? Did the Cards get decimated by graduation ? Major injuries ? A combination of both ? Please let me know, as I am totally bewildered and surprised by this seasons team.
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What are you bewildered by? They could have scored 70 against McKinley. They basically took their starters out at the half. The Ignatius game should not have been nearly as close as it was. Poor play calling and untimely turnovers. The Ed’s game was a but kicking but there were a lot of factors that went in to that. Missing 2 O-lineman, having another kid playing O-line that never played it and losing your QB early in the 2nd QtR are huge factors. I’m not saying they would have won but it would have been a hell of a lot closer. Mentor has never had teams that dominate Ed’s. Ed’s is a great program. Essentially they did dominate their first two games and then got kicked in the teeth with a bunch of backups. It’s week 3, very early. I think we all need to pump the brakes on this Mentor team not being very good. Scotty fox will open eyes too. He’s young but he’s talented. And Snow will be back sooner rather than later.
 
Mentor95 said:
What are you bewildered by? They could have scored 70 against McKinley. They basically took their starters out at the half. The Ignatius game should not have been nearly as close as it was. Poor play calling and untimely turnovers. The Ed’s game was a but kicking but there were a lot of factors that went in to that. Missing 2 O-lineman, having another kid playing O-line that never played it and losing your QB early in the 2nd QtR are huge factors. I’m not saying they would have won but it would have been a hell of a lot closer. Mentor has never had teams that dominate Ed’s. Ed’s is a great program. Essentially they did dominate their first two games and then got kicked in the teeth with a bunch of backups. It’s week 3, very early. I think we all need to pump the brakes on this Mentor team not being very good. Scotty fox will open eyes too. He’s young but he’s talented. And Snow will be back sooner rather than later.
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What info do you have on Snow being back sooner rather than later ? I've heard 4-7 weeks which definitely isn't sooner

Scotty Fox probably does have talent to be a backup as a 9th grader. Time will tell on his production now. He will have more time to prepare so I'll be interested. In that game we went for negative yards passing once Snow was out

Even with the QB issues , this isn't a very talented team BY MENTOR STANDARDS. Those are high standards. Mentor has had many good teams in the last 20 years since 2002.

I still say this is probably the 15th or 16th best team at full strength. The defense looks very bad. The special teams are way better at kick returner but still bad in other areas. And the offense has an elite playmaker in Harper but the running game and other areas are weaker than usual. Snow seems solid but he isn't a tanski, trubisky, kipp , tatarunas, Abbott, krizanzic etc type YET. He can get to the latter of that list. Getting to the top 3 would be exceptional and exceed my expectations
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
What info do you have on Snow being back sooner rather than later ? I've heard 4-7 weeks which definitely isn't sooner

Scotty Fox probably does have talent to be a backup as a 9th grader. Time will tell on his production now. He will have more time to prepare so I'll be interested. In that game we went for negative yards passing once Snow was out

Even with the QB issues , this isn't a very talented team BY MENTOR STANDARDS. Those are high standards. Mentor has had many good teams in the last 20 years since 2002.

I still say this is probably the 15th or 16th best team at full strength. The defense looks very bad. The special teams are way better at kick returner but still bad in other areas. And the offense has an elite playmaker in Harper but the running game and other areas are weaker than usual. Snow seems solid but he isn't a tanski, trubisky, kipp , tatarunas, Abbott, krizanzic etc type YET. He can get to the latter of that list. Getting to the top 3 would be exceptional and exceed my expectations
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I just think it’s extremely early to have that opinion on this team. We’ve seen Snow play exactly 3 1/2 games as a starter, one being a state semifinal game against Pick with one day notice as a sophomore where he put up 31 points. He had 4 TD passes in 2 1/2 quarters against McKinley while running for 55 yards on 3 carries. He threw for 200 yards and 3 TD passes against Ignatius in “the first half” made some dumb mistakes in the 2nd half. And finally played 1 1/2 quarters against Ed’s and threw for 100 yards and a TD while running for his life most of the time. All in all this year he has played 8 quarters of football, has 8 TD passes to 2 picks and has thrown for almost $600 yards. I don’t know the QB’s stats that you mentioned in their first 3 varsity games but I can’t imagine it’s much better considering 2 of the 3 games were Ed’s & Ignatius. Let’s also not forget Kipp played behind two current Big 10 lineman and had a D-1 running back in Trobel.

Snow will be back sooner rather than later, trust me.
 
Coach Gray says they will have to rely more on the running game. If they start Baroni, they would most likely have to completely revamp the offense from a spread offense to more of a 2 back traditional offense. I can’t see that happening and think they go with Fox and run the ball more out of the spread. Fox may only be a Freshman, but he is the best passer remaining on the roster.
Mentor’s defense has to be better than the last two weeks. I think if they can hold North Allegheny to 20 points, they will have a good chance to win. PC shut out NA, but I don’t expect Mentor to put up that kind of defensive performance. PC has been one of the better defenses in the state so far this year having held Massillon and Elder to a combined 17 points.
Coach Gray said they would have a better idea about how long Snow would be out after he saw a hand specialist early this week, so I'm guessing that may have happened today. Since it is his throwing hand, he won't be able to play with a brace on the thumb. I think 4 weeks is a best case scenario if the break is minor.
 
A two back set for a bit is an interesting thought. Between Panhorst, Waite, and even Harper - this might not be a bad idea. Mentor ran a two back set with good success in 2008-2010. It seems odd to consider that since Mentor had such a hard time running the ball lately, but this misdirection options with the two backs and a possible mobile QB adds a new element. Maybe Harper in the wildcat too. They will have to be creative to get this offense going.
 
E.S. Furgeson said:
The defense will carry mentor to 8 or 9 wins.
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Wow, that was really a low blow. Way to kick a team when they’re down.

In all seriousness, besides Medina I would like to think that Mentor has a decent chance do win any of their other games. The GCC is pretty down. The next two weeks are tougher non-conference games, but not at the level of Ignatius, let alone St Eds. The next two weeks will be a battle for a Snow-less team trying to figure out their identity. If there was a time for the defensive line to play up to their reputation (ranked #1 in the preseason by Goul/Cleveland.com), now is it.
 
Not at all. Mentors defense kept McKinley and Saint Ignatius at bay.

“Saint” Edward doesn’t count.

Mentors defense will keep them in every game moving forward. This is based on my observations of mentor having superior talent on defense and veteran coaching.
 
Mentor95 said:
What are you bewildered by? They could have scored 70 against McKinley. They basically took their starters out at the half. The Ignatius game should not have been nearly as close as it was. Poor play calling and untimely turnovers. The Ed’s game was a but kicking but there were a lot of factors that went in to that. Missing 2 O-lineman, having another kid playing O-line that never played it and losing your QB early in the 2nd QtR are huge factors. I’m not saying they would have won but it would have been a hell of a lot closer. Mentor has never had teams that dominate Ed’s. Ed’s is a great program. Essentially they did dominate their first two games and then got kicked in the teeth with a bunch of backups. It’s week 3, very early. I think we all need to pump the brakes on this Mentor team not being very good. Scotty fox will open eyes too. He’s young but he’s talented. And Snow will be back sooner rather than later.
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Bro im not trying to sir the pot at all but Mckinley is terrible lol putting 70 on mckinley when your mentor is not shocking especially this year with all the stuff they got going on I was shocked that's Ed's beat yall like that tho buuuut same bout to happen to us next week
 
MassillonK1D330 said:
Bro im not trying to sir the pot at all but Mckinley is terrible lol putting 70 on mckinley when your mentor is not shocking especially this year with all the stuff they got going on I was shocked that's Ed's beat yall like that tho buuuut same bout to happen to us next week
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Won't be as bad. St Eds is good but it's not one of their best teams. They were facing one of our worst teams in the last 20 years without 2 OL starters and the top backup. And our QB broke his thumb on the throwing hand mid 2nd quarter and left the game for good when it was 14-7 Eds

I suspect Massillon has more talent than us this year and I think eds beats us by 2-3 scores if we were full strength
 
Anyone else going to Wexford PA to see the North Allegheny game ? I already have a hotel booked for Friday and plans for the weekend so I'm still going. Not nearly as excited with Snow out but hoping we can pull something out to win it still
 
The game tonight will have live audio at this link: https://tribhssn.triblive.com/broad...h-at-north-allegheny-september-10-2021-audio/

Here is a preview on the game from the North Allegheny football page: http://athletics.northallegheny.org/news/tigers-stampede-into-week-two-matchup-with-mentor-oh/

An interesting stat that was posted on the site is that Mentor has the best winning percentage in Division I since 2000. That is quite impressive. Colerain would have to be up there at the top too. If Mentor was completely healthy with Snow, I would really like their chances to win and possibly win comfortably. Without Snow, that really changes things. This will be a battle. The defense will have to come to play and keep them in the game. The offense will probably try to find some creative ways to get Harper the ball. The offensive line has to be healthy and back (they appear to be) and play really well to open the running game and protect the backup QB.
 
Are the lineman back this week for sure? If so, that would greatly improve the youngsters chances for success. Establish the run game with Panhorst, give the kid some easy confidence throws early on, and find some creative ways to get the ball in Harper's hands. Good luck on the road.
 
EaglePride01 said:
Are the lineman back this week for sure? If so, that would greatly improve the youngsters chances for success. Establish the run game with Panhorst, give the kid some easy confidence throws early on, and find some creative ways to get the ball in Harper's hands. Good luck on the road.
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Seem to be. Never heard about injury stuff so it's probably that other thing....
 
cardzfan1234 said:
The game tonight will have live audio at this link: https://tribhssn.triblive.com/broad...h-at-north-allegheny-september-10-2021-audio/

Here is a preview on the game from the North Allegheny football page: http://athletics.northallegheny.org/news/tigers-stampede-into-week-two-matchup-with-mentor-oh/

An interesting stat that was posted on the site is that Mentor has the best winning percentage in Division I since 2000. That is quite impressive. Colerain would have to be up there at the top too. If Mentor was completely healthy with Snow, I would really like their chances to win and possibly win comfortably. Without Snow, that really changes things. This will be a battle. The defense will have to come to play and keep them in the game. The offense will probably try to find some creative ways to get Harper the ball. The offensive line has to be healthy and back (they appear to be) and play really well to open the running game and protect the backup QB.
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I am very curious to see this outcome. I was at the NA @ Pick Central game last week. NA's team looked and played better than the 35-0 blowout loss would indicate, esp. their defense. PC didn't do anything spectacular on offense - although our talented TE dropped a wide-open pass that would have been ~ 60+ yard TD. I don't think NA's offense got inside PC's 25 yard line all game long. Plus they turned the ball over too much. They have good size and speed. QB play was ok, but he was under constant pressure. I think Mentor wins a close, highly competitive game.
 
MassillonK1D330 said:
Bro im not trying to sir the pot at all but Mckinley is terrible lol putting 70 on mckinley when your mentor is not shocking especially this year with all the stuff they got going on I was shocked that's Ed's beat yall like that tho buuuut same bout to happen to us next week
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No dude… I don’t take it that way. We’re just debating, it’s all good man. I agree with you on McKinley too. I’m just saying, I think it’s early to say 15 or 16th best team in last 20 years. I think you let them put a body of work together then determine that. They have talent there. Even the QB, has talent but has very little varsity experience. I could be wrong but I think you’re going to be viewing a different team in week 9 & 10 than what you’re looking at now. Time will tell.
 
Mentor95 said:
No dude… I don’t take it that way. We’re just debating, it’s all good man. I agree with you on McKinley too. I’m just saying, I think it’s early to say 15 or 16th best team in last 20 years. I think you let them put a body of work together then determine that. They have talent there. Even the QB, has talent but has very little varsity experience. I could be wrong but I think you’re going to be viewing a different team in week 9 & 10 than what you’re looking at now. Time will tell.
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It's not really putting the team down to talk about the talent level at Mentor in the past to now

Since 2002, we've had

4 state runner up.
3 final 4
4 final 8 teams I believe

I don't see this team being a top 8 type team in the state. That's already 11 teams in the past 20 years.

So yes I'll stand by about 15th of the past 20.

I'd be thrilled to be wrong and this team magically wins the region but I highly doubt it
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
It's not really putting the team down to talk about the talent level at Mentor in the past to now

Since 2002, we've had

4 state runner up.
3 final 4
4 final 8 teams I believe

I don't see this team being a top 8 type team in the state. That's already 11 teams in the past 20 years.

So yes I'll stand by about 15th of the past 20.

I'd be thrilled to be wrong and this team magically wins the region but I highly doubt it
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Like I said, you’re 3 weeks in. Maybe you’re right. Maybe they are 15th or 16th but I’m just perplexed as to how you’ve drawn that conclusion so soon. They beat Iggy, ugly or not they beat them. They got throttled by Ed’s so that’s your determining factor?? They will likely run the table after this week and that includes the big scary Medina team.
people are harping on the D and if you look back at some of the years you’re referring to they gave up 50 and 60 points to those teams. They gave up 47 to Ed’s and that was after they cashed it in at half time. Their D is definitely not 15th or 16th in that time frame. You could argue that it’s better than it was last year. Linebacker play is better, they have a top corner in the state, they have a solid D line anchored by Vernon with a few guys that no one knows who they are because they haven’t had time to make a name. And the offense is being ran by a kid who’s played 3 games as the starter. We’ll check back at the end of the year and see where we are.
 
Mentor95 said:
Like I said, you’re 3 weeks in. Maybe you’re right. Maybe they are 15th or 16th but I’m just perplexed as to how you’ve drawn that conclusion so soon. They beat Iggy, ugly or not they beat them. They got throttled by Ed’s so that’s your determining factor?? They will likely run the table after this week and that includes the big scary Medina team.
people are harping on the D and if you look back at some of the years you’re referring to they gave up 50 and 60 points to those teams. They gave up 47 to Ed’s and that was after they cashed it in at half time. Their D is definitely not 15th or 16th in that time frame. You could argue that it’s better than it was last year. Linebacker play is better, they have a top corner in the state, they have a solid D line anchored by Vernon with a few guys that no one knows who they are because they haven’t had time to make a name. And the offense is being ran by a kid who’s played 3 games as the starter. We’ll check back at the end of the year and see where we are.
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They aren't beating medina with this team especially without snow...

If you think this team is better than last year , you have some good drugs. Or a kid on the team ..

They could move up a few slots though. You never know. I'm saying what I'm seeing as of now.

We've had bad D many years. This year looks like no exception
 
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PA refs are keeping NA in this game. Bs holding on our kick return. Bs late hold call on a should be td run. Then was PI on the int throw.

Should be 17-3. Now it's 10-10.
 
2nd INT almost returned for a td. But ref missed an obvious block in the back way back at the 45. Hard to beat the refs and north Allegheny with Snow out and a very average Mentor team

But no worries we will beat Medina with this team

Down 17-10 with 8.5 left
 
2nd and 5 down 1 on NA 30 or so. And gray calls a stupid end around wr pass just like 2nd and 4 vs Ignatius. What an idiot. Sad thing is we downgraded big time at head coach and QB coach and kept the same crappy leadership on d and special teams
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
2nd and 5 down 1 on NA 30 or so. And gray calls a stupid end around wr pass just like 2nd and 4 vs Ignatius. What an idiot. Sad thing is we downgraded big time at head coach and QB coach and kept the same crappy leadership on d and special teams
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Too cute again...he just doesn't seem to get it. Same thing with the Panhorst pitch back to Fox. Just run plays and run them well. Not multiple trick plays in one game. Come on......

Truth is Gray should have opted not to play St. Ed's...even if it was a forfeit. To go into that game undermanned was a mistake. A mistake that ended up in the starter QB with a broken hand.

Poor decisions from the coaching staff. Wouldn't be surprised if they lost the confidence of most of these boys by now.
 
Cardsfan89 said:
Too cute again...he just doesn't seem to get it. Same thing with the Panhorst pitch back to Fox. Just run plays and run them well. Not multiple trick plays in one game. Come on......

Truth is Gray should have opted not to play St. Ed's...even if it was a forfeit. To go into that game undermanned was a mistake. A mistake that ended up in the starter QB with a broken hand.

Poor decisions from the coaching staff. Wouldn't be surprised if they lost the confidence of most of these boys by now.
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I think the trick plays show a sign of desperation. They did convert one into a score, so that’s worth something. The coaching needs to do better, I agree.

As for your suggestion that Mentor should’ve forfeited the St Eds game - that seems a stretch. Are you suggesting they had enough players on quarantine to justify cancelling the game?
 
cardzfan1234 said:
I think the trick plays show a sign of desperation. They did convert one into a score, so that’s worth something. The coaching needs to do better, I agree.

As for your suggestion that Mentor should’ve forfeited the St Eds game - that seems a stretch. Are you suggesting they had enough players on quarantine to justify cancelling the game?
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I know it was tabled.
 
Mentor joins a list of Ohio teams jobbed by the refs in a Penn. game. Ask some diehard Ignatius fans about the game played at Berwick with its magical clock
 
arizonawildcat said:
Mentor joins a list of Ohio teams jobbed by the refs in a Penn. game. Ask some diehard Ignatius fans about the game played at Berwick with its magical clock
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It wasn't JUST the refs but that drive I highlighted above ending in the pick 6 was definitely a screw job . Should have been 17-3 instead of 10-10 and that changed the game drastically

And on that 2nd int which was admittedly a bad pass by our QB, it was still an obvious block in the back right in front of the ref at the 45. Should have been on the NA side of the field instead of inside our 5

So yes the refs had a huge hand in how they got their 2 tds

Still our kicker missed a 25 yard field goal and an extra point.

Gray called another mouth breather type play when we had momentum and a 2nd and 5 just like in the iggy game to kill a late drive

And this Mentor team is just very average especially without Snow. With snow we win this game going away because the playbook seemed to have like 5 plays with the freshman QB starting
 
www.news-herald.com

Mentor aiming high with freshman Scotty Fox at quarterback

The demise of the Mentor football team, in light of an injury to starting quarterback Jacob Snow, has apparently been greatly exaggerated. Mentor lost to North Allegheny, 20-16, in Week 4, with Sno…
www.news-herald.com

Gray calls Snow “day to day.” That is quite surprising to me. Let’s see how that plays out. It sure would’ve been nice to hang on for the win against North Allegheny. That coupled with a returning Snow would really change the season. It would be nice to grab a top four seed, but the loss to NA makes that very tough. Stow and Jackson have schedules that set up nicely for 9-win seasons. Obviously Eds and Medina are going to finish 1 and 2. Finishing below the 4 seed means you might have to play Eds or Medina one week earlier than you would like.
 
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