Pine-Richland defense delivers against Findlay

FINDLAY – Pine-Richland High School brought a tough-as-nails reputation to Donnell Stadium on Friday.Then the Rams showed how they got it.A perennial Pennsylvania power with three state championships in the past eight years, Pine–Richland amassed 460 yards total offense and put five touchdowns on the scoreboard. But it was defense dominated most of all in the Rams 38-7 win over Findlay in Friday's 2025 season opener."We just couldn't get anything going offensively against them, especially that first half," said FHS coach Stefan Adams."We knew we'd have to be, maybe not perfect, but we knew when we had opportunities we had to take advantage of them and we couldn't."Pine Richland led 10-0 after one quarter of play and 24-0 at the half. While Findlay's defense was putting some reins on the Rams, Pine-Richland's 4-2 and 4-3 front and quick blitzing corners were overpowering, limiting Findlay to 3 yards rushing, 32 yards total offense and one first down the entire first half."We expected our offense to be ahead of our defense, especially with the amount of starters we have back on offense," said Pine Richland coach Dr. Jon Delonne."We still had a lot of mental mistakes, though, and some miscues, and way too many penalties (10, 117 yards total) after the whistler, so we have some stuff we need to clean up for sure."With confidence in an offense built around quarterback Aaron Strader, beginning his third year as a starter, and 190-pound running back Maclane Miller, DeLonne opted to go on the attack after winning the coin flip.Findlay's defense made the first big stand though, stopping Miller a yard short of the sticks on a fourth-and-1 from the 37.Pine-Richland came up with a defensive stop as well, then displayed some of the potential that has the school ranked among the top programs in the state.Helped by a personal foul call on Findlay, Pine-Richland went 71 yards in nine plays, with Miller, with a good stutter step move over right tackle, covering the final 11.Pine-Richland got good field position when Findlay failed on a fourth-and-short attempt from its own 39. Thanks to sacks by Trace'son Hyde and Jackson Young, the Rams did not put the ball in the end zone, but they did go up 10 on a Landon Brown's 36-yard field goal."We had some big stops, some fourth down stops," Adams said."But we were on the field (defensively) so much, I think something like 50 snaps in the first half. We were close in some aspects, but in others it seemed we were so far away."Pine-Richland went up 24-0 with two big second-quarter drives. The Rams covered 65 yards in nine plays on a drive capped by Grayson Stulek hauling in a 6-yars TD pass from Strader. The Rams then covered 91 yards in six plays, including a 39-yard reception by Jay Timmons and a 32-yard blast to the outside by Miller.Miller, who finished the night with 127 yards on 26 carries, added a 1-yard TD plunge in the fourth quarter. Strader completed 16-of-29 passes for 242 yards, including a 34-yard bomb to Jalen Neals (9 receptions, 117 yards) to set up Pine-Richland's final score.Adams ended up using all three quarterbacks at his disposal. Starter Riley Korkos, a junior, completed 5-of-11 passes for 18 yards but also banged around a bit in the first half. Sophomore Tate Richards took over at quarterback in the second half and completed two key passes – a 22-yarder to Jed Scott and an on-the-run 14-yarder to Greyson Geiser. His 9-yard strike to Geiser gave Findlay a first and goal at the 1. Youthful mistakes cost the Trojans, though, with one missed exchange costing them 8 yards and another costing them possession of the ball.Bishop Pfister, another sophomore, was under center in the fourth quarter and connected with Carter Imke on Findlay's lone score.On a second-down pay from his own 19, Pfister faked a handoff, dropped back and saw Imke steaking up the left sideline. Pfister hit Imke in stride for the 81-yard catch-and-run score. Imke caught seven passes for 89 yards and the one TD."Those two sophomore quarterbacks, they're going to push each other, because we're probably going to need one, or both, of them at some point in time," Adams said.Defensively, Mile Bailey led Findlay with nine tackles, Hudson Yeager had eight, Sebastian Brankamp had six, and Alex Gonzalez, Will Hammer, Chase Harris and Young all had five.From start to finish, they were a busy bunch on Friday."I think those guys played with their hair on fire," Adams said."Dark side lights out is what we call it. I'm happy. Not happy with the loss but happy with how our guys came out and responded the way they did."There's a lot of things to be positive about."Findlay hits the road on Friday to battle Lima Senior in the I-75 Rivalry. Lima Senior is 1-0 after beating Piqua 12-7 in its season opener.Pine-Richland 10 14 0 14—38Findlay 0 0 0 7—7First QuarterP-R – Miller 11 run (Brown kick)P-R – Brown, FG, 36 yards Second QuarterP-R – Stulak 6 pass from Strader (Brown kick)P-R – Timmons 12 pass from Strader (Brown kick) Fourth QuarterP-R – Miller 1 run (Brown kick)FIN – Imke 81 pass from Pfister (Geiser kick)P-R – Stiscak 12 run (Brown kick) FIN P-RFirst Downs 10 30Rushes-yards 24-46 38-212Passing Yards 153 248Comp-Att-Int 12-23-1 17-31-0Punts-Avg. 4-28.3 0-0.0Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0Penalties-Yards 3-36 10-117INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING – Findlay, Miller 4-28, Imke 1-14, Hetrick 1-12, Williams 3-8, Lomeli 4-3, Pfister 7-(-15). Pine-Richland, Miller 26-127, Starder 6-53, Stiscak 4-28.PASSING – Findlay, Korkos 5-11-0, 18 yards; Richards 3-5-1, 17 yards; Pfister 4-7-0, 118 yards. Pine-Richland, Strader 16-29-0, 242 yards; Stiscak 1-2-0, 6 yards.RECEIVING – Findlay, Geiser 3-19 yards, Montgomery 1-8 yards, Imke 4-89, Scott 4-37. Pine-Richland, Neals 5-117, Timmons 4-66, Stulak 2-12, Hays 3-16.Game stats courtesy of Jim Welch