MEDINA, Ohio — Mentor, the top seed in Division I, Region 1, earned a second straight shutout win after defeating No. 5 Canton McKinley, 31-0, in a regional semifinal on Friday.
The Cardinals (13-0) will take on No. 7 St. Edward (8-5) in the regional finals next week.
Mentor was coming off a 33-0 shutout win over Strongsville, while Canton McKinley (8-5) edged out Massillon Jackson in a 35-32 victory in which both squads combined for 765 yards of offense.
So it was only natural to expect these dynamic offenses to repeat that on Friday night, right?
Well, not exactly. At least not off the rip.
The game’s first touchdown wasn’t scored until the third quarter, the 6:20 mark to be exact, off a 20-yard un from Mentor junior running back Jackson Farley.
Before that was a first half of offensive struggles, prompting the defensive units to carry the load and keep points off the board. The 50-degree weather was the cherry on top.
McKinley started out in the wildcat formation. Senior running back Nino Hill gained 23 of his 45 rushing yards in the opening series. It wasn’t enough as the offense totaled 75 yards in the half.
Mentor’s 3-0 halftime lead was in thanks to senior kicker Dylan Tackett’s 40-yard field goal.
Senior quarterback and West Virginia commit Scotty Fox kept the offense stable with 98 yards in the air. This included a 31-yard pass to Farley, but even that reception started off a short route, in which Farley used his legs to gain most of the yards.
The Bulldogs’ defense did its job in limiting Mentor’s Justin Hodge on Friday night, keeping him to three catches on nine targets for 35 yards (11.7 per reception).
So, it was Farley who carried the load and accounted for 100 of the 173 first-half team yards, off 59 rushing and 41 receiving. He also outrushed McKinley’s rushing core (51 yards) ahead of halftime.
The Mentor offense found life coming out of the half.
Farley rushed for 66 of his 169 rushing yards in third quarter, including the 20-yard score for the game’s first touchdown. Fox scored the next couple touchdowns on the ground to secure the win.
This story will be updated.