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Mentor-Saint Ignatius recap

By Eddie Dwyer, 09/14/08, 12:00AM EDT

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If Saint Ignatius’ faithful don’t realize it by now, this corner will make it as clear as possible – the Wildcats’ defense has established itself as one of the strongest the seven-county area has to offer.

Not bad for a unit that returned just four starters from 2007.

As they did throughout the first three games of the season, Coach Chuck Kyle’s defenders stepped up Saturday night and helped preserve a hard-fought, 28-14 victory over a talented and versatile Mentor team at Parma’s Byers Field.

The Wildcats, forced to make several key stops down the stretch, improved to 3-1. Coach Steve Trivisonno’s Cardinals, who defeated Saint Ignatius, 38-17, in Mentor last season, slipped to 2-2. The Cardinals’ other setback this season came at the hands of the Strongsville Mustangs, 30-27.

“The defense, it’s great, everyone (on our defense) can make a play,’’ said junior end Gerry Ramella, who came up with two big sacks, including one on a third-and-6 from the Mentor 34 that forced the Cardinals to punt in the final 2:20. “Coach (Dan) Corrigan is a great coordinator and along with ‘Mass’ (assistant coach Bryan Massinen) and Coach (Ryan) Franzinger, those three really make a good plan.’’

Helping establish that game plan was the relentless pursuit of junior linebacker Scott McVey, who again made his presence felt from the opening kickoff until the final second ticked off the clock.

The Saint Ignatius offense also had its moments after Mentor took advantage of a special-teams miscue and led, 7-0, in the early going.

Highlighting a 21-point second quarter for the Wildcats were a 2-yard touchdown run by senior safety/tailback Pat Hinkel and TD receptions of 5 and 29 yards by senior wideout and recent Ball State recruit Connor Ryan. Senior all-purpose back Frank DeSico helped set up Hinkel’s TD by making a leaping 40-yard reception at the Cardinals’ 20.

On a sour note, senior quarterback and co-captain Andrew Holland had to leave the game late in the third quarter after injuring his left (non-throwing) shoulder. Coach Kyle said he doesn’t think the injury is of a serious nature. Before going to the bench, Holland completed 13 of 21 passes for 214 yards. He was replaced by his capable backup – junior Mark Myers.
Mentor, the big-school state runner-up in 2006 and ’07, got its running game in gear in the second half and closed to 21-14 on a tough, second-effort 19-yard touchdown run by senior slotback Tom Worden and the ensuing extra point by sophomore Greg Klisuric. The Cardinals also had to go without their starting signal-caller down the stretch, as senior Anthony Fracci was dazed after a hard hit. Trivisonno had nothing but praise for the effort turned in by reserve quarterback Sam Mayse.

Saint Ignatius, which will face Buffalo St. Francis on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Byers Field, put the finishing touch on the triumph over Mentor with a picture-perfect, 61-yard touchdown run by senior tailback Mike Anter. Anter swept the right side, cut off key blocks by junior tight end Brendan Carozzoni and junior lineman Stewart Ross, and outran the pursuit with 1:45 remaining to be played.

“We were just trying to get a first down and get the clock going,’’ said Coach Kyle, who is now 216-15 when the Wildcats score 20 or more points. “Mike was stretching it (to the outside) a lot all night and he saw that they were over-pursuing him. He just made that cut and was in the secondary in a heart beat.’’

NICE TOUCH: Before Saturday night's kickoff, Saint Ignatius' first state championship football team, the magical squad of 1988, was honored. Yes, December will mark 20 years since the Wildcats defeated Cincinnati Princeton, 10-7, in the big-school state championship game at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

As part of the festivities, the scoreboard at Byers Field showed video highlights from the game, including the Joe Pickens-to-Mike Buddie touchdown strike and the outstanding goal-line stand that was highlighted by the surge of defensive tackle Chris Campbell and the pursuit of linebacker Kareem Ingram. Several players from the '88 team, who "came home'' for the weekend, received a standing ovation as they walked on to Byers Field.