Mentor wins GCC championship over Euclid with 61-59 victory

MENTOR, OHIO– In one of the biggest games of the year, Mentor and Euclid battled it out Friday night for the Greater Cleveland Conference Championship. Two of the hottest teams in Northeast Ohio faced off as both teams entered the night undefeated in GCC play. Ultimately, Mentor came away with a 61-59 victory and the championship.

It was Euclid that would strike first in the game. On the first drive for Mentor, Tadas Tatarunas threw an interception trying to go for the touchdown. The Panthers capitalized on that interception by going down the field. That resulted in a 40-yard touchdown pass from Aubrey Shabazz to junior Dre’Von Lindsay.

Tatarunas has struggled with his passes recently. Just last week he threw three interceptions against a stout Solon defense. Tonight didn’t start off the right way for him as he took an early gamble in the game and it ended up costing the Cardinals early on.

He bounced back after that interception to lead the Cardinals down the field for a touchdown to tie the game at the end of the first quarter. Tatarunas kept it and ran the ball for three yards to get on the board after an impressive drive from Euclid.

That would be all the scoring action in the first quarter. The second quarter is where both offenses converted on the big plays. Lindsay continued to be a threat for the Mentor secondary. The speedy junior has a quick first step and once he beats the cornerback, there is no looking back as Aubrey Shabazz found him down the field three times for a touchdown in the first half.

Mentor did a good job of responding back as every time Euclid would score a touchdown, it seemed like the Mentor offense would step up answer right back. There was no shortage of offense throughout the night as that was expected with these two high-powered offenses who both averaged 40 or more points heading into the game.

Just like in the first half, a costly Mentor turnover led to a Euclid touchdown to begin the second half action. After that, Mentor and Euclid would exchange touchdown drives later in the quarter as that was the story of the night.

A late fumble in the third quarter from Euclid ended up costing them as the first play on the drive for Mentor went for a long touchdown. At the end of the third quarter, Mentor would be up on Euclid 43-35.

The fourth quarter was when the defense for both teams started to come out. A couple key third down stops from both teams and some offensive trickery made this game come down to the final minutes.

The game came down to the final possession as Mentor had the ball all the way back against their own end zone. With just about a minute left in the game, Tatarunas led Mentor down the field as he completed pass after pass to get the Cardinals in field goal position.

In came Conor Mcintosh, the junior who stood 18 yards away from winning the game. Four seconds later, he nailed the game-winning, 35-yard field goal to give Mentor the GCC Championship.

“It was a whole team game,” said coach Trivisonno after the win. “We just played really, really well other than the turnovers. We don’t turn it over it’s probably not that close.”

Both teams should hang their heads high after a hard fought Friday night football game. These two teams will be fun to watch in a couple weeks come playoff time.

 

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Mentor	7	14	22	15	61
Euclid	8	14	13	22	59

 

 

Aubrey Shabazz 40-yard TD pass to Dre’Von Lindsay (2-point conversion good) 4:04 left in 1st Q 8-0 Euclid

Tadas Tatarunas 4-yard TD run 0:44 left in 1st Q 8-7 Euclid

Tadas Tatarunas 72-yard TD pass to Luke Floriea 9:40 left in 2nd Q 14-8 Mentor

Aubrey Shabazz 39-yard TD pass to Dre’Von Lindsay 8:00 left in 2nd Q 15-14 Euclid

Aubrey Shabazz 46-yard TD pass to Dre’Von Lindsay 6:24 left in 2nd Q 22-14 Euclid

Chris Edmond 1-yard TD run 4:06 left in 2nd Q 22-21 Euclid

Aubrey Shabazz 25-yard pass to Nick Rice 5:48 left in 3rd Q 29-21 Euclid

Tadas Tatarunas 54-yard TD pass to Logan Shea 4:49 left in 3rd Q (2-point conversion good) 29-29

Aubrey Shabazz 14-yard TD pass to Dre’Von Lindsay (extra point missed) 2:57 left in 3rd Q 35-29 Mentor

Chris Edmond 7-yard TD run run 1:19 left in 3rd Q 36-35 Mentor

Tadas Tatarunas 27-yard TD pass to Logan Shea 0:56 left in 3rd Q 43-35 Mentor

Brandon Wright 2-yard TD run 7:52 left in 4th Q (2-point conversion good) 43-43

Elijah Mcdougall 20-yard TD run 7:05 left in 4th Q 50-43 Mentor

Aubrey Shabazz 31-yard TD pass to Raylan McGuire 5:11 left in 4th Q (2-point conversion good) 51-50 Euclid

Elijah Mcdougall 2-yard TD run 2:25 left in 4th Q (2-point conversion good) 58-51 Mentor

Brandon Wright 52-yard TD run 1:31 left in 4th Q (2-point conversion good) 59-58 Euclid

Conor Mcintosh 35-yard FG 0:00 61-59 Mentor

 

Player of the Game: Tadas Tatarunas, QB, Mentor

The senior quarterback has stepped up all year long for the Mentor Cardinals. He is a big-time play maker who really shows his best stuff in the clutch moments.

He completed 19-of-29 passes for 423 yards, throwing two interceptions and three touchdowns. Leading the Cardinals almost the full length of the field with just over a minute left in the game to become GCC Champions has to be the perfect way to end his career at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium. The senior will be looking to make a deep playoff run in a couple weeks one final time.