Leonardo
By DAVE HANNEMAN
- THE COURIER
Findlay’s football team did everything it needed to do Friday night but the one thing the Trojans couldn’t do was change the outcome of a football game 55 miles away.
Findlay scored two touchdowns on gut-check fourth-down plays, came up with one clutch defensive stop after another, and overcame the adveristy of a controversial call and a ton of penalties to beat Napoleon 21-12 in the final Greater Buckeye Conference game the Trojans will ever play at Donnell Stadium.
Findlay’s fourth straight win left the Trojans with a 5-5 record, a 4-1 slate in the GBC, and a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe it might be enough to earn them a share of the league title. That wasn’t to be, however.
Over in Fremont, the Little Giants were chalking up a 21-7 win over Sandusky. That gave Ross (9-1, 5-0) the outright GBC championship in the final year of the league. Findlay finishes alone in second, with Sandusky (6-4, 3-2 GBC) third.
“That’s a hole we dug and couldn’t get out of,” FHS coach Mark Ritzler said of a 43-36 loss to Fremont Ross in the first GBC game of the season. “But we won our last four and finished strong. Five-five (5-5) is certainly not where we wanted to be. But a lot of good things happened along the way, including a game like this, including our last GBC game ever.”
Senior quarterback Matt Spragg threw for 204 yards and two touchdowns. The first was a 5-yard strike to Dylan Blunk on a fourth-and-goal from the 8 on Findlay’s first drive. The last was a 3-yard fade to Cody Ramsey on a fourth-and-2 play midway through the fourth quarter.
“I love those situations. There’s nothing better,” Rasmey said after his touchdown catch put Findlay up 21-12 with 7:39 left in the game. “Finishing 5-5 means that as a team nobody gave up. When we were 1-4, we gathered together and decided we only had five games left in the GBC and we wanted to do the best we could. There was no sense in giving up.”
Spragg also capped a time-consuming 67-yard drive just before the half with a 1-yard TD plunge.
Napoleon, which will be moving to the Northern Lakes League next season, made Findlay earn Friday’s win. The Wildcats trimmed Findlay’s lead to 7-6 on a 2-yard sneak by quarterback Jacob Plassman with 5:59 left in the first half, and to 14-12 when Tyler Miller scored from 2 yards out late in the third quarter.
Miller’s score followed a questionable call that kept Napoleon’s drive alive.
On a third-and-7 play from the Findlay 31, Miller went into motion and Plassman tried to swing him a pass. Miller was stll behind Plassman when the ball glanced off his hands, making it a lateral and not a pass. Miller could not get the handle on the ball but Findlay cornerback Jordan Widman did, recovering the loose ball back at the 45.
After conferring, however, officials ruled the throw an incomplete pass. Plassman then completed a 23-yard pass to Miller for a first down at the 8. Three plays later, Miller scored from the 3.
Findlay answered with a solid drive. But a holding call (one of 12 Findlay penalties) cost the Trojans a touchdown and an interception by Logan Badenhop ended the threat. Findlay’s defense then came up big.
Sophomore linebacker Devin Dennard broke up a pass to snuff Napoleon’s next possesion and Findlay responded with its game-clinching drive. Sacks by Mitch Geyer and Matt McDaniel and a tipped pass by Ryan Agin again stopped Napoleon, and Alex Henry’s interception with 40 seconds left seemed the perfect capper for the Trojans.
Senior linebacker D.J. Pullom also had an interception, his fifth of the season. Dillon Boes also had a key sack when Napoleon was trying to sustain a game-tying drive late in the firtst half.
“I saw him double clutch, so I knew he as going to hold it,” Boes said of his sack. “I dove for him and got him before their blockers could pick me up.”
Napoleon started the season 6-0. But the Wildcats, who graduated 21 of 22 startering positions from last year’s tri-championship team, saw their league and playoff hopes fade during a season-ending four-game losing streak that included two overtime losses.
“We were undersized and we didn’t have the speed other teams had,” said Napoleon coach Tory Strock. “But we found ways to hang in there and tonight was no different. Our GBC hopes were out the window and our playoff hopes were very slim. The only thing we could do was play for the tradition and the pride that is Napoleon football and I think our kids responded.”
Napoleon’s Devon Sonneberg rushed for 122 yards on 21 carries as the senior fullback topped 1,000 yards for the season.
In additon to his defensive play, Henry had 97 yards rushing for Findlay. Jim Orwick caught six passes for 48 yards, Blunk four for 83 and Brock Romantic four for 34.
It all added up to a Findlay win. And the kind of send off Ritzler was hoping for his seniors.
“This game really resembled our season,” Ritzler said. "We got ahead in those early ball games, but didn’t always finish. Tonight we finished the game strong and we finished the season strong. We got a good memory tonight, and that’s what we wanted for our seniors. I told them this is one you are going to remember.”