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Mentor Lake Catholic shuts out winless Irish
By Bill Tilton
Willoughby News-Herald
MENTOR
What would be more shocking to area high school football fans?
An 0-3 start for three-time defending Division V state champ Ursuline, a 3-0 start to the season for Lake Catholic in a year where 21 of 22 starters had to be replaced, or the Cougars shutting out the Fighting Irish when the teams met head-to-head in Week 3?
How about all three taking place on the same field on the same night?
It’s officially time for fans to stop being shocked at anything Coach Mike Bell’s crew accomplishes this fall. Lake Catholic held a potent Ursuline offense that scored 27 points a week ago on the same turf against Mentor scoreless in grinding out a 9-0 victory on Saturday night.
“I can’t say enough about what our defense did,” Bell said. “If you would have told me at 6:59 tonight that we were going to shut the Irish out, I would have told you that you were nuts.
“That’s a very good football team. We were just hoping to limit those guys and try to play hard. The young men played extremely well.”
Ursuline running back Jesse Curry did finish with 133 yards on 27 carries, but the Fighting Irish (3-0) couldn’t find the end zone. A 23-yard field goal attempt with 5:21 left in the fourth quarter by Ursuline hit the upright to thwart one of the best scoring opportunities of the evening.
Both teams were hurt by a parade of flags. There were 22 accepted penalties for 165 yards between the squads, and a player for Ursuline was ejected on the final play of the first half.
Those first 24 minutes were a penalty-filled mess with neither team being able to generate much offense or any rhythm because of a combination of the flags and the stingy defensive efforts. However, it did produce the lone points of the night.
Bad snaps on punts cost Ursuline the only nine points of the game. On the first possession of the night, an errant snap got by the punter, rolled into the end zone and was pounced on by the Fighting Irish to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead 43 seconds into Saturday’s contest.
After the safety, the teams spent the next 19-plus minutes struggling to move the ball and exchanging punts, another mistake on special teams by Ursuline handed Lake Catholic a short field.
The Cougars capitalized when Evan Gormley spurted up the middle 20 yards for a touchdown and a 9-0 lead for the home team.
“There were a lot of flags, and it didn’t seem like either team got into much of a rhythm,” Ursuline coach Dan Reardon said. “I think they are a very good football team. They graduated a lot of guys, but they have a lot of new guys who are hungry. They stepped up tonight. And from a defensive standpoint, the force you to drive the length of the field. They don’t give up the big play.”