At the conclusion of Mentor’s 44-17 demolition of visiting Strongsville on Oct. 18, the Cardinals gathered at one end of the field and faced the Jerome T. Osborne Stadium digital scoreboard. When the board lit up with the graphics that spelled out: Mentor Cardinals-GCC Champions, the players clad in red and gray shouted in exhilaration. For the first time since 2020, Mentor has a conference championship to celebrate — at least a share for now. The Cardinals remain undefeated on the year at 9-0 (5-0 GCC), and will win the title outright if they get a win over Euclid on Oct. 25. @MentorRedline senior defensive lineman Julian Solis talks about Mentor’s 44-17 win over Strongsville and clinching a share of the GCC Championship pic.twitter.com/Fv1LehqGHw — Jay Kron (@TownCenter2) October 19, 2024 “It’s a surreal feeling,” Mentor senior defensive lineman Julian Solis said. “Last year, having that one loss to Cleveland Heights was a heartbreak. But being here right now with my boys, and bringing it home, it’s just crazy.” Mentor did it with an offense that was virtually unstoppable, scoring the first seven times it had the ball and only punting once, when 3:36 remained in the game. West Virginia-bound senior Scotty Fox passed for 279 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Cardinals on Senior Night. Mentor’s Jackson Farley carries Oct. 18 against Strongsville. (Paul DiCicco – for The News-Herald) Junior running back Jackson Farley added 184 yards on the ground and two touchdowns and 38 more yards on two catches for Mentor. @MentorRedline senior Jackson Farley (222 all-purpose yards, 2 TDs) reviews the Cardinals’ 44-17 win over Strongsville pic.twitter.com/vDiwB5X0zT — Jay Kron (@TownCenter2) October 19, 2024 “We’ve been talking about all week, knowing that this was for the GCC championship and they were undefeated and we were undefeated,” Farley said. “We knew this would be a tough one and guys were going to be sore afterwards, but we got through.” Mentor received the opening kickoff, and took a 14-0 first quarter lead on two six-play drives of 77 and 78 yards, scoring a 42-yard pass from Fox to senior Austin Van Huss and a one-yard plunge by Fox. Strongsville (5-4. 4-1), behind a large offensive line, had its running game in gear and picked up big chunks of yards with senior RB Sam Dimacchia and sophomore Kendrick Boddie. The Mustangs cut their deficit to 14-7 early in the second quarter on a 15-yard run by Boddie, but Mentor responded with a six-yard Farley scoring run to go back up by two scores. Strongsville came back again with an 80-yard drive, nearly all on the ground, and Boddie bounced a run outside for a 28-yard touchdown to make it 21-14. But Farley scored again from the 1 with 13 seconds left in the half, and although the extra point was no good, Mentor took a 27-14 lead into halftime. A full moon shone overhead, but there was no lunacy in the form of turnovers for either team until the second play of the third quarter, when a Strongsville fumble was recovered by Mentor senior Tyler Stapleton at the Mustangs’ 31, and that led to a 32-yard field goal by Mentor senior Dylan Tackett to extend the lead to 30-14. @MentorRedline Coach Matt Gray breaks down the Cardinals’ 44-17 win over Strongsville that clinched a share of the GCC championship (Part 1) pic.twitter.com/zlCqs3GE52 — Jay Kron (@TownCenter2) October 19, 2024 “We talk all the time about complementary football,” Mentor coach Matt Gray said. “Defense gives us a turnover, we have to put points on the board. Right after that we tried a short kickoff, because we thought there was a little bit of a void there, and they returned it to midfield after a penalty. “But our defense stepped up and make some big stops, and offensively we did what we needed to do in the second half.” @MentorRedline Coach Matt Gray discusses Mentor’s 44-17 win over Strongsville (Part 2) pic.twitter.com/ZkrR5eWtAy — Jay Kron (@TownCenter2) October 19, 2024 Mentor added two more touchdowns in the second half, a screen pass from Fox that Van Huss took 40 yards to the house, and a deep pass along the sideline on 3rd and 11 from Fox to senior Marcus Sierputowski that went for a 59-yard touchdown. Meanwhile, the Cardinals’ defense held Strongsville to a 30-yard Vincent Roncone field goal after the break. @Strongsville_FB Coach Jason Trusnik goes over the Mustangs’ 44-17 loss at Mentor pic.twitter.com/fcEfnR5zaC — Jay Kron (@TownCenter2) October 19, 2024 “Obviously a disappointing loss,” said Strongsville coach Jason Trusnik, who played for 10 years in the NFL, including a brief stint with the Browns. “But you have to give it up to Coach (Gray) and the Mentor players, they played great tonight. They made more plays than we did. We’ll go back and watch film and learn from this.” Strongsville was able to rack up 275 yards on the ground, but Mentor’s defense also stopped them on fourth down three times in Cardinals’ territory. Mentor, the state’s No.1-ranked team in Division I in the AP poll and No. 1 in the Division I, Region 1 computer rankings, piled up 551 yards of offense. If the Cardinals beat Euclid next week, they will go 10-0 for the fifth time in school history, joining the 1966, 1968, 2003, and 2019 Mentor teams. But an undefeated season and a conference championship are just benchmark goals along the way to the ultimate goal for Mentor, which will involve still playing football on Dec. 6. “It’s one of those where it was an objective benchmark at the start of the season,” Gray said of the GCC title. “But it’s not the end-all, be-all. We want to continue to improve and get better as we get closer to the playoffs. The best teams that have ever come through this place made their names in the postseason.” Mentor honored the memory of Jack Sawyer, a member of the football team that succumbed to bone cancer a year ago, with members of Jack’s family and the Mentor student section wearing JBS Strong yellow t-shirts. The Cardinals also honored longtime superfan Joe Miller, who recently passed away, with a pregame announcement and moment of silence.