Mentor Routs Euclid After Slow Start

Euclid scored first against Mentor Friday night.

In fact, Mentor quarterback Mitch Trubisky was sacked three times and intercepted twice before he first put the Cardinals on the board with a 6-yard run with eight minutes left in the second quarter.

But, after that, it was pretty much all Mentor.

Mentor scored an unanswered 33 points en route to a 33-13 rout at .

"They came at us a little bit," Mentor Head Coach Steve Trivisonno said. "Then we settled down and started playing football."

Euclid played tough in the first quarter. Terrance Roscoe grabbed a pass from wide receiver LaShaun Moore for an interception, which gave the Panthers the ball at Mentor's 47. Euclid capitalized when Rakeesh Nolden caught a touchdown pass on a corner fade to take the lead 7-0.

Meanwhile, the Panthers defense held the high-octane Cardinals offense scoreless in the first.

But Euclid was not able to enjoy its lead for long.

Mentor tied it at 7 with the aforementioned quarterback keeper. Then the Cardinals took a lead, which they never rescinded, when Trubisky tossed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Connor Krizancic in the closing minutes of the second quarter.

"We started out sloppy but we figured it out," Trubisky said. "We weren't expecting some of the things they did on defense but we adjusted."

While Mentor had a 14-7 lead at the half, the Cardinals turned a lead into a rout in the third quarter.

Moore opened the third quarter by returning a kickoff to Euclid's 28.

The Cardinals didn't waste their field position. Trubisky threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Eddie Daugherty for a 20-7 lead.

"(Moore's kickoff return) was huge," Trubisky said. "Any time you can start across the 50 is huge."

Mentor continued to own the third quarter -- turning two Panther turnovers into touchdowns.

First, defensive end Kent Berger grabbed a fumble on Euclid's 40, which the Cardinals turned into 6 when Krizancic had a 15-yard run across the goal line.

Then defensive back Jaylen Dowdy nabbed an interception. Mentor capitalized for another drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run from Matt Schaefer.

Meanwhile, Mentor's defense held Euclid to 71 yards in the third quarter after netting 160 in the first half.

Rhyshon Johnson scored one more touchdown for Euclid on a 5-yard run in the fourth quarter but, by then, the game was effectively over.

Trubisky ended the game with 197 yards and two touchdowns passing and 46 yards and another touchdown on the ground. Krizancic led all Mentor receivers with 69 yards on five passes and one touchdown, as well as another 45 yards and touchdown running.

Mentor won the battle for field position all game. Their kicking team pinned Euclid behind its 5-yard line three times -- once on a kickoff and twice on punts from Trubisky.

Trivisonno said he was especially impressed with his special teams' performance tonight.

Trubisky gave the credit to his line for his punting success.

"Everyone blocks good and I just get to kick the ball," he said.