Trojans thinking about a reload, not rebuild, in 2024

Stefan Adams would rather handle a howitzer than a hammer.His coaching philosophy proves that."The best programs don't rebuild, they reload," Adams said. "That's where I want to be."Coming off an 8-3 season and a Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division co-championship, Adams and the Findlay High Trojans will be looking to reload this football season and make another run at a league title.One area Findlay won't have to rebuild or reload at is the quarterback position, where Ryan Montgomery, one of the top-ranked prep quarterbacks in the country, returns for his senior season."All coaches will tell you they've had guys who were extremely talented," Adams said."What makes Ryan more unique is, one, he's a great all-around kid; two, he absolutely loves the game of football; and, three, he makes you better as a coach with how he prepares himself. We might be sitting in the coaches room watching film and he'll come in, sit down and just watch. He's always learning, picking things up. He wants answers, and will do whatever he can to get them."I think that's elevated all of our game as coaches."Last season, Montgomery completed 258-of-376 passes (68.6 percent) for 3,377 yards and 38 touchdowns in being named NLL-Buckeye Division Offensive Player of the Year, first-team all-state and a candidate for Ohio's Mr. Football Award.Since stepping into the starting role the third game his freshman year, he has established FHS career passing records for yards (7,584) and touchdowns (89).Impressive numbers, but not something the 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior, who signed a letter of intent to play college ball for Georgia, keeps tabs on."I don't care what the stats are. I just want to do whatever we need to do to win," Montgomery said."I'm happy to have that (recruitment) out of the way. Now I can just go out and enjoy playing and being with the guys."Findlay did graduate an excellent corps of receivers, led by all-Ohio end Javonte Hill, a human highlight reel who caught 90 passes for 1,257 yards and 18 TDs. Also gone are wide out Austin Hasselbach (48 recps., 591 yards, 6 TDs), all-NLL tight end Ben Best (32 recps., 411 yards, 1 TDs), and running back Matt Guthrie, who not only led Findlay in rushing (557 yards, 7 TDs) but also snared 26 passes for 254 yards and a score.Jacob Ragland, who displayed break-away talent as a junior, could be Findlay's deep threat this season. The 5-10, 170-pound senior caught 36 passes for 626 yards, averaging a team-high 17.3 yards per reception, and scored six touchdowns. Also back is 6-3, 210-pound senior Reese Little, a good blend of size and speed."Jacob Ragland made some explosive plays last year," Adams said. "And Reese Little is one of those guys who's been in our program, two, three years. A guy with great size, great talent who's been knocking at that door."We might be a little more dink-and-dunk (than last season). There's skill and competition for those positions, so we're still combing through guys who might be a little more explosive. We still want to do what we do and have to find a way to do that.""We have to replace some key guys, some big targets," Montgomery said. "We need guys to step up and I have full trust in them that they will."Juniors Griffin Lane and Sonny Hines will likely be in the backfield with Montgomery, with Jack Rhoades, Brian Guthrie, Bryson Smith Carter Imke and Israel Moore filling out the receiver corps.An area of concern a year ago will be a strength of the Trojans this season with the entire offensive line returning."I remember last year coming in with one returning letterman – Desmon Bailey. Then he got hurt in our scrimmage with Huber Heights Wayne and was lost for the season," Adams said."We went into our opener with Toledo Central Catholic with five guys who had no varsity experience."That's not the case this season with tackle and Indiana recruit Baylor Wilkin and guard Giovani Armbrister returning on the left side, tackle Ben Mueller and guard Brody Smith on the right and Zach Searls at center. There's even experienced depth with Max Inthavone and Brady Lentz seeing varsity time last season as well. "As far as the line, last year we just wanted to survive," Adams said."Hats off to coach Iliff (offensive line coach Matt Iliff), though. He did a tremendous job with those guys. That group gave up just six sacks all year and that's pretty darn good for a team that throws the ball like we do."Findlay also looks strong on the defensive front, with 6-3, 265-pound senior Ashton Yeager, a four-year starter garnering considerable college attention, anchoring the group."We need to stop the run if we want to win football games, that's what we've done in the past," said Yeager, a second-team all-NLL pick who had 35 tackles and four sacks last season."I think if we can stop the run, everything on the back end will take care of itself."Keegan Klotz (30 tackles, 4 sacks) also started on the defensive line a year ago, but is working out more at linebacker, where Findlay graduated two first-team all-NLL standouts – Nate Riegle (45 tackles, 5 sacks), a walk-on for Ohio State this fall, and Isaac Tuiloma (58 tackles, 4 sacks) – as well as Baret Helms (33 tackles, 4 pass break-ups)."Keegan's one of those guys you love to have," Adams said. "He's a wrestler and wrestlers are awesome because they have good hand placement and good leverage."Starters Elija Johnson (15 tackles, 3 sacks) and CJ Reid-Tisdale (29 tackles, 10 pass breakups) also graduated, along the anchor of the secondary, Luke Weihrauch, a third-team all-Ohio safety who led the Trojans with 90 tackles and had eight tackles for loss, three sacks and three interceptions."You don't replace a kid like Luke Weihrauch," Adams said."I've always said your team is made up of a lot of program kids, and then you have those kids who are in that top one percent. You don't replace that guy. You just hope the next guy stepping into that spot is ready to compete and make plays."Senior Ian Smith and juniors Xavier Garcia and Hudson Yeager (14 tackles) also have experience on the defensive front."Our strength on the offensive and defensive line is a really good thing, especially in a tough league like ours," Adams said."We fill confident that our skill guys will always be there. But it's settling to know that our lines are pretty tough, too."Campbell Lane, who played outside linebacker and had 51 tackles last season, may move to the inside this year. Jacob Vance (36 tackles) also returns, with juniors Mile Bailey, Frank Azaroff and Chase Harris in the mix as well.Speedster Israel Moore (35 tackles, 7 pass break ups) is the veteran in the secondary, with Sebastian Brankamp, Alex Gonzalez, Dante Coffman, Maycen Hetrick and Gavin Spradlin also competing for playing time."I love where that kid (Moore) is now," Adams said."He's dynamic, he's twitchy, he's a competitor. Last year, he was among seniors who really pushed him, and now he's doing a great job of corralling that group and pushing them every day to be better. He has untapped potential of being a leader, an influencer of that group."With four of the five schools in the NLL Buckeye Division boasting Division I-caliber quarterbacks, Adams knows his defense will be tested game in and game out this season."One thing about defense, especially in high school football, is you might have kids who are undersized, but are quick enough and strong enough to handle that guy across from them," Adams said."The key defensively is can you run and can you tackle? One thing I think is really cool right now is we have guys who will run and they will hit you."There's no doubt those guys will give the effort."And support Adams' philosophy of reloading, not rebuilding."When it comes to league titles and playoff talk, we want to be in that conversation every year," he said.