Mentor coach Steve Trivisonno called himself lucky to be the head coach for 18 seasons at his alma mater.
For the most part, the opponents that have run up against the Cardinals during Trivisonno's tenure have not been so fortunate.
Friday night was no exception, and Euclid found itself on the unlucky side of an emotional milestone evening at Jerome T. Osborne Sr. Stadium.
After a little bit of a slow start, Mentor dominated both sides of the ball and rolled over visiting Euclid, 49-0. The win was Trvisonno's 150th career victory, and the Cardinals' first over the newly installed turf at the JTO.
Trivisonno, who took over in 1997, has a career record of 150-55 with three Division I state runner-up finishes on an impressive resume. While not one to concern himself with individual milestones, the moment did not pass Trivisonno by Friday night when he had a chance to soak in the atmosphere and the achievement.
"It is very special, and there is no place I would rather be," Trivisonno said. "I love this school, I love this community and I am very proud to be the head coach here.
"One thing is I am lucky to be the coach, let's not kid anybody. I have had great kids and great players here and maybe as important, great assistant coaches. I get all the credit, but those guys do all the work. We are just proud that we put a plan in place and stuck to the plan and work hard and the results have been positive."
Mentor got going with a 64-yard screen pass for a touchdown from Jake Floriea to Eddie Daugherty in the first quarter. Alex Mathews added a touchdown run, Malik Porter caught a TD pass, Daugherty ran one in from 31 yards out and the Cardinals created a pair of turnovers–a fumble recovery by Bradie Crandall and interception by Trevor Morrison–as they rolled to a 35-0 lead at halftime.
The second half featured a running clock and a lot of underclassmen getting valuable varsity time for Mentor, who improved to 3-0 with a home game vs. Twinsburg on Sept. 19 coming up.
"If we stay healthy, I think we are pretty balanced, pretty good football team," Trivisonno said.
Morrison's interception came off a tip from All-Ohio defensive lineman Nico Lautanen on a screen pass and helped spark the shutout.
"It's really a big shutout for us. That's a very physical team and they came out prepared," Morrison said.
"The pick was all set up by Nico, he got the tip so I have to give him all the credit."
Lautanen, a Bowling Green recruit, said Mentor did not look past Euclid despite the records this year and the recent history of the teams.
"The big thing was to respect Euclid's game and we did," Lautanen said. "It was an emotional night and it was great to finally play a game at home on the new turf. And of course we are all happy for Coach Triv."
Jarrell Jackson had a TD run in the second half for the Cardinals.
Euclid fell to 1-2 on the season and has a road game at Shawn on Sept. 19.
