The Mentor Cardinals met the Stow-Munroe Falls Bulldogs in the Division 1 regional quarterfinals on Friday night.
The game started off quickly as Mentor took their opening drive the distance. Mentor's #12 Tadas Tatarunas connected with #8 Logan Shea on a 20 yard pass to put their team up 7. Stow-Munroe was quick to answer as they were able to score on their second possession thanks to a rushing touchdown by # 3 Terrian Wray. Stow soon took the lead after they were able to hit a long field goal which put them up 10-7 to end the first.
In the second quarter Mentor was able to retake the lead thanks to Tatarunas taking his team down the field and finishing it off with a 1 yard QB sneak. However Stow wasn't done yet, thanks to a beautiful throw and catch from #5 Corey Rice and #7 Tyler Shaver. Mentor soon came back and got two more touchdowns thanks to Tatarunas and Shea. Mentor entered the half leading 28-17.
At half time both bands put on a great show and were able to keep the crowd energized in the chilly weather.
In the second half it was all Mentor. Mentor's Tatarunas and Shea were able to connect for the 4th time tonight which put the Cardinals up 35-17. Mentor continued to light up the scoreboard as they had two more rushing touchdowns from #13 Chris Edmond and #22 Elijah McDougall.
The Cardinals were able to defeat the Bulldogs 49-17 in the first round of the playoffs. Both Tadas Tatarunas and Logan Shea were selected as this week's High School Game of the Week Most Valuable Players. Tatarunas threw for 4 touchdowns and rushed for 1 and Shea had 4 receiving touchdowns.
Of course no Friday night is complete without some great volunteers. We met Robert Sierputowski who was helping out at the game by selling programs. Robert has been doing this for two years now and the proceeds genereated from the program sales goes back into the school's athletic department.
Congratulations to Mentor for moving on in the playoffs and Congratulations to Stow Munroe for a great game and a great season.
