By Don Dreger
Record-Courier correspondent
Mentor — There was no question that the Ravenna Ravens had their work cut for them against Mentor Lake Catholic in the opening round of the Division II state playoffs at Mentor High School.
The top-seeded Cougars had put together a great 9-1 regular season, including victories over three playoff qualifiers. Meanwhile, the Ravens — even though they were undefeated in the Portage Trail Conference and 8-2 overall — had to wait until late Friday night to find out that they had made the playoffs by earning the eighth-place slot.
As expected, Lake Catholic defeated the Ravens 34-16 and advanced to the second round to play Canfield, a victor over Aurora on Friday. But it was anything but an easy win for the Cougars.
Except for a 21-0 run Lake Catholic put together in the third period, Ravenna controlled the time of possession and had the Cougar fans quiet in their seats most of the first half.
“The third quarter got away from us,” said Ravenna coach Jim Lunardi. “I told the media early in the week that their quarterback Jerrod Ronyak (6-foot-3, 205) was a great one. He is probably the best I’ve seen since I’ve been at Ravenna. It’s an aerial circus when he plays.”
The first half showed that both teams were out to win.
Lake Catholic had the ball first starting at its own 29-yard line. Using a hurry-up offense, the Cougars moved the ball in the air, covering 71 yards in 11 plays with Ronyak scampering in from the 17. A Jacob Lubbe PAT gave the Cougars a 7-0 lead.
It didn’t faze the Ravens.
Starting at their 15, quarterback Zach Thomas picked up a first down on the first play on a run up the middle. The Ravens kept the ball on the ground, throwing only three times in the 16 plays that it took for the score. The final play was a 9-yard touchdown pass from Thomas to Corey Myers. Thomas threw to a Ravens receiver short of Myers, but the ball was tipped into Myers’ arms in the back of the end zone.
The PAT snap was high, but Thomas was able to scramble around long enough to find Deiondre Mack in the right corner of the end zone for the 2-point conversion and an 8-7 Ravenna lead.
The drive took almost eight minutes and ended with 36 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Cougars struck right back with two big pass plays covering 68 yards. The scoring toss was for 31 yards to running back Tommy Michals, who was uncovered on the right sideline. The PAT failed, but Lake Catholic led 13-8.
Ravenna mounted another long drive that took almost eight minutes. The drive stalled on the 8 after 14 plays when Lunardi decided to go for a fourth-and-six on the 8. A pass to Xavier Jones by Josh Chechak in the corner of the end zone was incomplete.
Ravenna held the Cougars and forced a punt with 26 seconds left, but the Ravens were out of timeouts and chose to run the clock out and end the half.
At the start of the third period, Ravenna had the ball. But the Ravens faced a fired-up Cougar defense that held Ravenna on downs.
That started the track meet, with the rifle-armed Ronyak directing traffic.
Lake Catholic’s first scoring drive of the second half took four plays and included pass completions of 46 and 19 yards. Michals scored from the 1, increasing Lake Catholic’s lead to 20-8.
Ronyak would complete 10-of-13 passes for 293 yards. On the other side of the ball, Ravenna’s 10 completions gained 93 yards.
The Cougars then broke the game open when Ronyak threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Zack Cvelbar. Moments later, Cvelbar caught another long TD pass, this one for 39 yards, and the lead was 34-8.
Ravenna finally got control of its emotions. The Ravens put together a 16-play drive that ended with Parnell Taylor running in from the 1. Taylor finished with 69 yards rushing in 14 carries.
“I’m proud of my kids,” said Lunardi. “We’ve qualified for the playoffs three years in a row. We have a good program in place. We just need to get over the top.”
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Don Dreger can be contacted at ddreger@recordpub.com