Trojans host Spartans in home opener

By DAVED HANNEMAN Staff Writer Findlay High football coach Stefan Adams figured Riley Korkos would contend for the starting quarterback job sometime. He just didn't expect it to be now. "He didn't have a choice," Adams said of the 170-pound sophomore, who was forced into the starting role – against two-time defending state champion Toledo Central Catholic no less – in Friday's season opener when four-year starter and Georgia recruit Ryan Montgomery went down with an injury. Korkos performed rather well against a TCC juggernaut that has won 32 straight games and is renowned for its defense. He completed 12-of-18 passes for 167 yards, including touchdown strikes of 69 yards to Jacob Ragland and 6 yards to Jackson Rhoades. He was 4-of-6 passing for 50 of the 75 yards on another scoring drive capped by Campbell Layne's 2-yard TD burst. Adams credited the system as much as the player. "When you saw Riley in the game, I think when you saw the system at a high level," he said. "We're still passing the ball. We still need those guys up front to solidify the line and block up the blitzes and allow Riley to get comfortable and settle in. It's never good losing a kid who's going to Georgia. What we have to figure out as coaches is how to make us as effective as we can be. "That's what coaching's about, that challenge." Korkos was sacked three times and fumbled once, but had a quarterback rating of 133.3 for the game. "Sometimes ignorance is bliss," Adams said. "In a situation like that, it's almost better to not know when you're going in because you're going in with zero expectations and zero clues of how you're going to do. Basically, you're going in and telling yourself you're just going to go in there and play." "There was a lot of emotion, a lot of adrenalin, and Riley went in there and made some good plays. Now we saying, 'You're in this position. Now we're asking you to learn and look at things and grow, and still play with that freedom while adding more to your plate.'" What's on the plate for Korkos and the Trojans is Friday's home opener with long-time I-75 rival Lima Senior, a program that last year made a dramatic turn-around under first-year head coach Bill Lawrence. Lima Senior had gone 10-27 the four seasons before Lawrence took over. Installing the five-wide passing attack he had learned during his time as an assistant to Mike Mauk at Kenton, Lawrence revamped the Spartans into a 9-3 team that went unbeaten (6-0) in the Toledo City League and reached the second round of the Division II, Region 8 playoffs. The trigger man of that offense returns in Ja'Niauys Avante K'mere Hall, a 5-foot-9, 148-pound junior who had a phenomenal sophomore season, completing 255-of-435 passes for 3,932 yards and 46 TDs and adding 357 yards and three TDs on the ground. In Lima Senior's season-opening 35-20 win over Piqua, Hall completed 29-of-49 passes for 294 yards and four touchdowns. Isaiah Wilson was a dual-threat for Lima Senior, catching seven passes for 120 yards, rushing for 81 yards and scoring three TDs. Kahliq Wash (9 receptions, 81 yards), Keyon Smith (6 recps, 61 yards), Vontae Watkins (5 recps.) and Amari Addy (4 recps., 1 TD) are key targets in the Spartans' passing game as well. "We run a system that allows us to spread the ball around, but at least we have running backs," Adams said. "(Lima Senior) is very unapologetic about it. They don't use running backs at all; they're five-wide and that's it." At Spartan Stadium a year ago, Findlay's defense teed off, sacking Hall four times, intercepting him once and recovering one of three fumbles in a 43-0 win. Adams says pressuring Hall is the key, and he plans on using a similar strategy Friday night. "We want to make the quarterback uncomfortable, and against the quarterbacks we're playing that's a goal every week," he said. "How can we affect him? How can we make them uncomfortable? How do we make them get off of that first read and go to the second or maybe even the third? Do we have to blitz or drop back into zone? "It all comes down to physicality. Who wants to be more physical. We want to cause havoc, create chaos. I think we did a good job of that last year."