Countdown to football: Findlay

FINDLAY 2024 Record: 4-7 (2-3 NLL Buckeye)Head coach: Stefan Adams (5th year, 26-20)KEY GAME: Sept. 26, at home, with Oregon Clay. This matchup may have more subplots than an Agatha Christie whodunit. First off, with Landon Echelberry transferring from Findlay to Oregon Clay, the quarterback expected to lead Findlay this season may now be under center for Clay, if he wins the starting job, which is open following the graduation of Mason Heintschel. Heintschel, who signed with Pitt, threw for 295 yards, ran for 187 and amassed 482 total yards and accounted for five touchdowns in Clay's 54-40 win over the Trojans last season. Ironically, Echelberry, who as a freshman had replaced injured Georgia recruit Ryan Montgomery as Findlay's starter, completed 29-of-42 passes for a Findlay High single-game record 562 yards in that game. This game is also the NLL Buckeye Division opener for both teams. With 11 schools in the NLL Springfield filled in the sixth spot in the Buckeye Division the first two years the league was in operation. This season and next, Springfield will drop to the Cardinal Division and Clay will bump up to become the Buckeye Division's sixth team.INTERESTING FACT: Findlay got Toledo Central Catholic off the schedule, but the Trojans may have traded one prep powerhouse for another. Findlay beat Toledo Central Catholic in 2011, the first time the two schools squared off. But the Irish won the next 12 matchups – and several state championships as well – over the ensuing years. This season, Findlay will face Pine-Richland, a Pennsylvania school located about 60 miles southeast of Youngstown, in its season opener. Pine-Richland competes in 5A, the second largest of Pennsylvania's football divisions, and has a pretty impressive history. The Rams were 11-2 last season, losing to eventual state champion Bishop McDevitt, 28-14, in the 5A semifinals. Pine-Richland went 13-3 and won the 5A state championship in 2022, and had unbeaten state championship teams in 2020 (11-0, 5A) and 2017 (16-0, 6A).MAGIC NUMBER: 100. It was 100 years ago this season when unassuming head coach Jimmy Aiken and a small but scrappy bunch of Findlay High football players achieved an undefeated season and was declared Ohio's 1925 state champion. Referred to in most articles as the "Golden Tornado" or simply the "Little Gold" Findlay had just 23 players in uniform and averaged 155 pounds per man across the offensive and defensive line. Findlay did not score a point the first two games of the season, both 0-0 stalemates with Upper Sandusky and Toledo Woodward. That lock-down defense would be the strength of the team, though. Findlay shut out eight of the 10 teams it played that season, and allowed only 25 points overall. Toledo Scott accounted for 19 of that total, but Findlay won the game 21-19, then beat Sandusky 32-0 on Thanksgiving Day to stake its claim as Ohio's prep football champion that year. 2025 SCHEDULEDate Opponent Home/AwayAug. 22 Pine-Richland, Pa. H 29 Lima Senior ASept. 5 Springfield H 12 Sylvania Southview A 19 Fremont Ross A 26 Oregon Clay* HOct. 3 Perrysburg* A 10 Toledo Whitmer* A 17 Sylvania Northview* H 24 Anthony Wayne* H*NLL-Buckeye Division games