Mentor Battles Back Late To Win In Dramatic Fashion, 38-34

SOLON, OHIO– This game was a top-20 showdown as the Mentor Cardinals entered Week 8 as the fifth best team in the area. The Solon Comets came into this matchup ranked 19th, a big drop after a tough loss last week to the Euclid Panthers. Solon vs. Mentor was set out to be a battle and it was nothing short of that.

Things got started off quickly for the Solon defense. On the very first play of the game, Tadas Tatarunas threw an interception. The defense of Mentor quickly prevailed as they forced a quick stop on Solon, forcing them to attempt a field goal that ended up short of the goal post. The senior responded well after the interception by leading the Cardinals down the field. It was an 83-yard drive that ended up resulting in a four-yard touchdown run from Chris Edmond.

As the first quarter was winding down, another misread by Tatarunas led to another interception for the Solon defense. This time, the Comets capitalized as three plays later, Taj Ward found junior Trevor Rapheal for a 28-yard touchdown. The defense did its part early on for Solon, but the Comets couldn’t seem to find a rhythm on the offensive end after one quarter.

Early on in the second quarter, Tatarunas found sophomore Luke Floriea for a 44-yard touchdown. Floriea got behind his defender and Tatarunas threw a perfect pass to push to Mentor lead to 10 points.

One big problem for the Mentor Cardinals in the first half was turnovers. Tatarunas threw three interceptions all in the first half. Solon seemed to take advantage of the turnovers as they scored on two of the three drives following the interception. Both scores were touchdowns, and that is what was keeping them in the game all night.

“We had a lot of adversity,” head coach Steve Trivisonno said. “We really could have blew it open early.”

The offense for Solon just wasn’t clicking during the first 24 minutes. Generating only 96 total yards on 23 plays during the first half, there needed to be some sort of spark in the Solon locker room at halftime.

It was nearly all Mentor in the first half as Tatarunas threw for 212 yards and the running game generated a total of 104 yards on the ground. Mentor controlled the ball for just five more minutes than Solon, but Mentor gained a total of 18 first downs compared to Solon’s three.

A spark was needed for the Solon offense and a spark is what they got. The opening drive for the Comets took just under four minutes of the clock. It was a 25-yard touchdown run from senior Thomas Wilks that put the Comets up to take their first lead of the game.

“We’re supposed to keep fighting and keep trying,” Solon head coach Jim McQuaide said after the game. “We always think there is enough time and that’s what we talk to our guys about.”

Back and forth we went throughout the third quarter. Mentor quickly regained the lead after a Conor Mcintosh made field goal. A whopping eight seconds later, Trevon Raphael took an 88-yard punt return for a touchdown for his third touchdown of the night. He was a wrecking force for the Mentor defense all night long. His quick burst of speed made him get past the Mentor defense and there was no looking back for the speedy junior.

Trevon Raphael continued his career game by adding in a fourth touchdown. This time he ran it in from 74 yards. He was truly a remarkable player to watch as he ran all over Mentor. The spark for Mentor in the third quarter was the 64 yard touchdown pass from Tatarunas to Floriea. The pass was a bit short heading to Floriea, but it was deflected off of the Solon defender and popped up in Floriea’s hands as he ran it 20 more yards into the end zone. That was the last score of the third quarter and it was 34-31 Solon heading into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter was the most exciting quarter of the game, as it came down to the wire. A late touchdown pass from Tatarunas with 43 seconds left ultimately sealed the win for the Cardinals.

Mentor was trailing the entire time in the fourth quarter until the late touchdown run. What ultimately ended the game was an interception by the Cardinals defense with 28 seconds left. One quarterback kneel later and that was the game. Another week resulting in a late heartbreak loss for the Solon Comets.Add New

“This win is good,” Trivisonno said after the hard fought win. “It puts us in the playoffs now, and now we got a showdown for a GCC championship next week and we will see what we are made of.”

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Mentor	10	10	11	7	38
Solon	7	7	20	0	34

 

Chris Edmond 4-yard TD run 7:31 left in 1st Q 7-0 Mentor

Conor Mcintosh 26-yard FG 2:31 left in 1st Q 10-0 Mentor

Taj Ward 28-yard TD pass to Trevon Raphael 0:11 left in 1st Q 10-7 Mentor

Tadas Tatarunas 44-yard TD pass to Luke Floriea 8:17 left in 2nd Q 17-7 Mentor

Taj Ward 21-yard TD pass to Trevon Raphael 2:05 left in 2nd Q 17-14 Mentor

Conor Mcintosh 23-yard FG 0:00 left in 2nd Q 20-14 Mentor

Thomas Wilks 25-yard TD run 8:37 in 3rd Q 21-20 Solon

Conor Mcintosh 33-yard FG 7:07 left in 3rd Q 23-21 Mentor

Trevon Raphael 88-yard kickoff return TD( PAT blocked) 6:59 left in 3rd Q 27-23 Solon

Trevon Raphael 74-yard TD run 2:10 left in 3rd Q 34-23 Solon

Tadas Tatarunas 64-yard TD pass to Luke Floriea 1:15 left in 3rd Q (2 point conversion good) 34-31 Solon

Tadas Tatarunas 9-yard TD pass to Logan Shea 0:43 left in 4th Q 38-34 Mentor

 

Player of the Game: Tadas Tatarunas, Mentor QB

Usually a player that throws three interceptions doesn’t come out as the player of the game, but Tatarunas led the Mentor offense all night long and carried the team when it really mattered to win the game in the end.

“The defense helped us tremendously,” Tadarunas said after the game. “It’s one team together, they got our backs and we got their backs and that just shows wen one team comes together what we can do.””

He finished the night completing 30-of-46 passes for 383 yards, while throwing three touchdowns and four interceptions.

“This win gives us all the confidence in the world,” he said. “We just got to keep believing in ourselves.”

A game-winning drive led by Tatarunas helped give Mentor the win against a tough Solon team.