Trojans to get Week 1 test against Pennsylvania's Pine Richland

FINDLAY – The calendar said it was August 20.But at the Findlay High School practice field, dark clouds scuttled across a coal-grey sky and a brisk breeze blew in from the north.It looked a little like fall, and felt a lot like football season."It's that Football Friday feeling," said FHS coach Stefan Adams."We know what it means for our entire community to get back into it."Findlay kicks off its 127th year of prep football on Friday when the Trojans host Pine-Richland, Pa. in its 2025 season opener.With four home games on the schedule and a Game 1 open date, Findlay contracted with Pine-Richland to make the trip here and fill that spot. It will be a major challenge for the Trojans.Size-wise, Pine-Richland has bounced between 6A, the largest of Pennsylvania's football divisions, and 5A. The school went 13-3 and won the 5A state championship in 2022 and fielded unbeaten state championship teams in 2020 (11-0, 5A) and 2017 (16-0, 6A).The Rams were 11-2 last season, losing to eventual state champion Bishop McDevitt, 28-14, in the 5A semifinals. Preseason reports claim this year's squad might be as good, or better."They have some new guys at key positions," Adams said of the Rams."But they also have a lot good athletes and some kids that are going to some pretty high-profile places, a lineman to Pitt, another kid to William & Mary in Virginia."Preseason articles list some of Pine-Richland's top players as junior quarterback Oobi Strader, senior running back Maclane Miller, receivers/defensive backs Jay Timmons and Penn State recruit Khalil Taylor. Strader threw for 1,755 yards and 20 touchdowns last season, Miller had 1,303 yards and 14 rushing TDs, and Timmons, the son of former Steelers' linebacker Lawrence Timmons, caught 40 passes for 755 yards and 11 TDs. Taylor, a transfer from Seton LaSalle in Pittsburgh, is ranked No. 5 in the state and No. 87 nationally in the class of 2027.Defensively, Dajour Webb (6-1, 310) and Pitt recruit John Curran (6-4, 290) anchor the front line. Grant Pillar is a senior middle linebacker for the Rams, with Timmons, Taylor and Dajuan Webb making up an athletic group of defensive backs.Findlay is coming off a 4-7 season that saw the Trojans make a fourth straight appearance in the Division I playoffs. Adams has 21 seniors on the roster and several lettermen back from that team."I think this group is hungry and wants to pick up the slack a little of where we left off last year," Adams said.In preseason scrimmages, Adams saw areas that needed improvement, but also areas that impressed him and his staff."Offensively, we did some things that we were actually pretty surprised about, like the two-minute drill. We executed it better than I thought we would," he said."When the lights came on, we had certain guys step up and come on strong."Adams was especially impressed by the play of the defense, which will be expected to be a team strength early this season."I thought our defense did a good job of swarming to the ball. They were really flying around," Adams said."When I freeze the clip (on game film), when somebody is getting tackled you're going to see about 11 hats on the ball. That's something everybody always talks about, but when you actually see it in motion that's something we're pretty proud about."Friday's weather is predicted to be more summer-like, with a projected high of 82 degrees. A hint of fall will be in the air, though, with the beginning of Friday Night Lights for another season."This year, I think you're going to see a lot of guys that know they really have to rely on each other, and that's what we were seeing," said Adams, entering his fifth season as FHS head coach."We've had a lot of homework to do. We've had some quizzes (scrimmages) the past two weeks. Now, this is the test."