Ohio High School Football 2007 Preview: Mentor

Mentor High School is the only public high school in Mentor, a town in northeaster Ohio. While it does not have a freshman class (only grades 10-12), it is the third largest public school in Ohio with 2,700 students. Their school mascot is the cardinal.

Football at Mentor High

The Mentor High Cardinals won its first state semi-finals in 2006 when they defeated Canton McKinley with a final score of 18-13. The team continued to the State Championship game but was defeated by Hilliard-Davidson High School in double overtime with a final score of 36-35, the highest scoring championship game in Ohio high school football history. During that game, Mentor's quarterback, Bart Tanski, completed four passing touchdowns.

The 2006 season was coached by Steve Trivisonno, who will be returning for the 2007 season and hopefully another shot at the State Championships. Trivisonno was a defensive coordinator at Riverside before joining the Cardinals. He has been the winner of the Northeast Lakes Disctrict Coach of the Year award. Losing players like Bill Deitman and Bart Tanski, Trivisonno will have to look hard to find replacements that can take his team through another winning season. But the younger players gained a lot of experience by going to the State Championship and are expected to use this experience in the 2007 season.

From Mentor to the NFL

One of Mentor's most notable football players was Bob Hallen. Hallen plays offensive guard, offensive tackle, and center. After playing for Mentor, he went on to Kent State, where he was a first-team All-Mid-American Conference choice in 1997. In 1998 he selected by the Atlanta Falcons during the NFL Draft. During his second year playing with the Falcons they went to Super Bowl XXXIII with the Denver Broncos. Although the Falcons lost the game (the Broncos won 34-19), Hallen got to play in the game. In 2002 Hallen signed to the San Diego Chargers, where he played until 2005. Before the 2006 season, he signed to play with the Cleveland Browns. The Browns announced that Hallen would be their starting center for the 2006 season, but soon after he retired from football. Hallen had been having back problems. The Browns' team of doctors gave him a diagnosis of back spasms. Unconvinced that his problems were this mundane, he left training camp with permission and visited a doctor in San Diego. There he was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, a condition in which the spinal canal narrows, putting pressure on the spinal cord and nerves, and several herniated spinal discs.