Leonardo
By DAVE HANNEMAN
- THE COURIER
MARION — Mark Ritzler wants his Findlay High football team to finish the season strong. By breaking that concept down drive by drive, that’s just what the Trojans are doing.
Findlay finished off six of its first seven possessions with touchdowns, building a 29-point lead that was more than enough to outlast Marion Harding Friday in the final Greater Buckeye Conference game between the two long-time rivals.
Both teams had eight possessions. Findlay scored on six of the first seven, and still had the ball when the final seconds ticked off the clock.
Marion Harding, the top rushing team in the GBC, didn’t damage its league-leading rushing totals with 356 yards on the ground. But the Presidents had two drives end in missed field goals (one was blocked by Findlay’s Devin Dennard), another ended in an interception by Nate Stewart, and two died out on incomplete fourth-down passes.
“Except for a tipped pass that was intercepted, our offense ran pretty smooth tonight,” said FHS coach Mark Ritzler. "We were able to take what they were giving us, finish drives and put some points on the board.”
Findlay got another excellent game from senior quarterback Matt Spragg and key contributions from some talented underclassmen in winning its third straight game, all on the road. The Trojans (4-5, 3-1 GBC) finish the season next Friday against Napoleon (6-3, 1-3) with an outside shot at sharing the 2010 and final GBC title.
“Who knows?” Ritzler said. “We talked to the kids after the game. Our seniors have one more game at home. We want to send them out winners, then we’ll see what happens.”
Fremont Ross (8-1, 4-0) beat Lima Senior 28-3 Friday to wrap up at least a share of the GBC championship. Sandusky shut out Napoleon 26-0 and, like Findlay, is 3-1 in league play. Sandusky and Fremont Ross square off next Friday in Fremont.
For the third straight game, Findlay followed a fast start with a strong second half. Spragg completed six passes on a game-opening eight-play drive that ended with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Brock Romantic. After Dennard, a sophomore linebacker, blocked Thomas Adamson’s 35-yard field goal attempt, the Trojans marched 63 yards in 11 plays, the last one a 9-yard pass from Spragg to Cody Ramsey, to go up 14-0.
Spragg’s pass to Ramsey lit the fuse on an explosive second quarter highlighted by a number of big plays. Two minutes after Ramsey’s TD reception, Marvin Owens raced 56 yards to cut Findlay’s lead to 14-7.
On Findlay’s first snap after the kickoff, Ben Kupferberg went 65 yards to the Marion Harding one, then dove over on the next play. Owens, who would rush for 208 yards, then capped another quick Marion Harding drive with a 14-yard scoring burst.
An interception by Harding’s Clifton Ross gave the Presidents a chance for a game-tying drive. A 43-yard dash by Owens and a 12-yard romp by junior quarterback Aaron Gabriel earned Marion a first-and-goal at the 5. But a holding penalty backed them up, a fourth-down pass fell incomplete, and Findlay turned the momentum back in its favor, with a 20-yard run by Alex Henry and a 59-yard pass from Spragg to sophomore wide out Wyatt Krupp setting up Henry’s 2-yard TD run.
With just 12 seconds left in the half, Findlay’s 28-13 lead looked safe. But a 44-yard run by Alphonso Sims set up Adamson for another 35-yard field goal. It missed.
“Getting that score right before the half was huge,” Ritzler said. “We knew they were getting the ball to start the second half. We told the defense that first drive of the third quarter would be the key. We needed to stop them and get their offense off the field.”
Marion Harding mounted a solid drive to open the second half. But a defensive stop by Ryan Agin and Mitch Geyer stalled it and a fourth-and-long pass fell incomplete.
Kupferberg, who led Findlay with 97 yards rushing, got 18 of those on three straight carries. On first-and-10 from the Marion Harding 43, Spragg found Romantic open again over the middle and the 57-yard catch-and-run play put Findlay up 35-13.
“We noticed on film that they were susceptible to the play action pass over the top,” Ritzler said. “Before the game, I noticed that Matt was throwing a real good deep ball. So I asked him if wanted to try it in the game and he was all for it. He threw some good passes and the receivers made some nice catches.”
Spragg was 20 for 26 passing for 264 yards and four TDs. His final completion was a 2-yard TD pass to Krupp 42 seconds into the fourth quarter. Ramsey caught eight passes for 47 yards and Krupp five passes for 79. Romantic nabbed four passes for 110 yards and two scores.
Marion Harding had 356 yards rushing and 411 yards total offense. Findlay had 278 yards passing and 457 yards total offense.