Findlay plays it back, powers past Clay

With the writers strike going on, viewers were told to expect a lot of reruns this fall. If they're the kind of reruns Stefan Adams saw Friday night, he'll gladly plant himself down, grab some popcorn and enjoy the show. Findlay followed a familiar script on Friday, using its pitch-and-catch passing game to build a significant lead and a scrapping get-after-it defensive effort to make that lead last in posting a 42-7 win over Oregon Clay in a Northern Lake League cross-over game at Donnell Stadium. Following a season-opening loss to Toledo Central Catholic, Findlay has rattled off nearly carbon copy wins over Lima Senior (43-0), Sylvania Southview (49-14) and now Clay (42-7). Friday's game had differences, obviously. Unlike its two earlier wins, the Trojans trailed this game 7-0 when Clay took the opening kickoff right down the field and scored. Ill-timed penalties also cost Findlay, not only in yards but in the offensive flow that trademarked its 35.3-point scoring average. Junior quarterback Ryan Montgomery threw for 325 yards and five touchdowns, though, Ja'vonte Hill, Austin Hasselbach, Reece Little, Jacob Ragland and Ben Best provided him with plenty of targets and the defense, after surrendering that opening TD drive, pitched a shutout the rest of the night at Findlay posted its third straight running-clock victory. "The first half was not as clean as I'd like it be," Adams said, "It was awful, but the second half was better. I think that shows the growth of this team, that we can overcome things like that. "It's all good. We're still not where I want us to be, but I'm not going to take away from the fact that our guys went out there and got a win." Oregon Clay won the toss, opted to take the ball and, behind junior quarterback Mason Heintschel, went right to work. Clay's plan was to put three receivers out wide, send them all deep and swing running back Ivan Burkey into the area they vacated. From the start it worked perfectly, with Heintschel finding Burkey for 30-, 4- and 21-yard gains. From the Findlay 11, Heintschel fired a strike to Troy Hazuda for the score. With the game barely a minute old, Findlay trailed for the first time in three games. "They came out caught us off kilter," Adams said. "They did some things we could have fixed, but didn't lock on to. We talked about that all week but did not execute. "That's on me." Findlay adapted and adjusted, though. After catching three passes on that first drive, Burkey caught just one more the rest of the game. Findlay's offense did what it usually does as well, and that's put points on the board. Montgomery would cap two long drives to 11- and 10-yard touchdown strikes to Hill, who caught 10 passes for 107 yards and his eighth and ninth TDS of the season. Reece Little also caught two TD passes and Jacob Ragland had one, that coming on an inside screen in the third quarter that the junior receiver turned into a bust-out 54-yard catch-and-run score. Findlay also had one of its best rushing games of the season, with Matt Guthrie's traps up the middle and Montgomery's quarterback draws and scrambles accounting for 103 of the Trojans' 121 yards on the ground. Gutherie had 47 yards on eight carries, Montgomery 56 yards on four. "That's a tough offense to defend, that's for sure," said Clay coach John Galyas. "They have receivers with skills and they are quick. We saw that today. "Mason (Heintschel) is our guy, but we have to protect him better. We can't have him back there running for his life like he was tonight. "Their guy (Montgomery) has some pretty good skills, too. He does a great job of extending plays. When he does that, that's probably when he's most dangerous." Defensively, Nate Riegle led Findlay with 10 total tackles and an interception. Isaac Tuiloma and Luke Weihrauch both had six tackles for the Trojans, who will take their 3-1 record and three game winning streak on the road next Friday when they battle Fremont Ross (1-3) in the 101st matchup between the long-time rivals. Oregon Clay 7 0 0 0 —7 Findlay 14 14 14 0 —48 First Quarter OC – Hazuda 11 pass from Heintschel (Veler kick) FIN – Hill 11 pass from Montgomery (Sprague kick) FIN – Guthrie 15 run (Sprague kick) Second Quarter FIN – Little 19 pass from Montgomery (Sprague kick) FIN – Hill 10 pass from Montgomery (Sprague kick) Third Quarter FIN – Little 23 pass from Montgomery (Sprague kick) FIN – Ragland 54 pass from Montgomery (Sprague kick) FIN LS First Downs 23 14 Rushes-yards 17-121 23-84 Passing Yards 323 155 Comp-Att-Int 27-33-0 20-36-1 Punts-Avg. 2-42.0 3-42.0 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0 Penalties-Yards 8-81 8-65 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING —Findlay, Guthrie 8-57, Montgomery 4-56, Sheets 3-9, Sertell 1-2, Hammer 1-9. Oregon Clay, Burkey 10-24, Heintschel 12-64. PASSING —Findlay, Montgomery 26-31-0, 325 yards; Hammer 1-1-0, -2 yards. Oregon Clay, Heintschel 17-29-1, 144 yards; DeWitt 3-7-0, 11 yards. RECEIVING — Findlay, Hill 10-107, Hasselbach 5-65, Best 2-33, Little 2-42, Sertell 2-(-1), Ragland 3-75. Oregon Clay, Burkey 4-53, Hazuda 6-43, Ostrander 5-36, Miller 1-12, Walendzak 1-6. FHS stats thanks to Jim Welch.