Trojans travel to take on 'explosive' Lima Senior

FINDLAY – Findlay High's football team hits the road for the first time this season and there will be an old nemesis and long-time rival waiting at the end of the ride when the Trojans travel down I-75 to face Lima Senior on Friday.Friday's matchup will be the 24th straight year the Trojans and Spartans hook up, and the 32nd time overall. Findlay has a 19-12 edge in the head-to-head series.A year ago, Findlay was inches and seconds away from having one more win and one less loss in that head-to-head record with Lima. In a wild game of big plays – four touchdowns covered 80 or more yards – and shifting momentum – Findlay took the lead five times, but Lima Senior overcame deficits of 10-7, 18-14, 24-21 and 31-27 – the Trojans appeared to have victory in the bag when defensive back Jackson Rhoades made a diving interception on a fourth-down pass in the final minute.Findlay was called for a roughing the passer penalty, though. Given a second a chance, Lima Senior quarterback Ja'Niaus Hall hit Amari Addy with a 9-yard TD pass with 20 seconds on the clock, earning the Spartans a 35-31 win.That comeback win may have been redemptive for Hall. When injuries sidelined Lima's No. 1 and No. 2 quarterbacks in 2022, Hall was thrown into the starting role as a freshman. In a 32-0 loss to Findlay that year, Hall was 9-of-23 passing for 116 yards with no touchdowns, threw three interceptions, had minus-14 yards rushing, and mishandled nine snaps from center.Since then, things have changed drastically for Hall and Lima Senior.Bill Lawrence took over as head coach in 2023 and the former assistant under Mike Mauk at Kenton immediately installed the wide-open passing game that produced in Maty Mauk (18,932 yards) and Ben Mauk (17,363) the No. 1 and No. 2 career passing leaders in Ohio prep football history.Hall fit that role perfectly, and is now a top-35 member of that career passing list as well after throwing for 3,932 yards and 46 touchdowns as a sophomore and 4,613 yards and 58 TDs last season.While Lima Senior graduated most of its top receivers and four offensive linemen from last year's 9-2 team, Hall is back at the controls of an offense that last season averaged 46 points a game."They are explosive. That's what they do," Findlay High coach Stefan Adams said during Wednesday's preparation for Lima Senior."Every game gives you little tweaks in what you want to do. They want to get you in open space and let their athletes make plays, so we have to be really good at making open field tackles. We especially don't want to give up those explosive plays; that was one of the biggest things last year."Lima Senior opened the season with a 12-7 win over Piqua. Hall completed 32-of-46 passes for 332 yards in that game, but threw just one touchdown pass. Keeping the ball out of Hall's hands, though, could be key."The main thing for us is, and I don't want to say controlling the clock, but dominating possessions," Adams said."I think our defense did some great things last week. They made a couple of stops in the red zone, they got that fourth-down stop, so defensively (this week) I think we have to dominate like that."On the other side, if they are willing to give us some (yards), we have to be able to make plays. If we get the ball in one-on-one situations, we have to make something happen."Findlay dropped its season opener, 38-7, to a Pine-Richland team that has won three Pennsylvania state championships in the past eight seasons.Findlay struggled offensively against Pine-Richland, generating just 46 rushing yards against the Rams and 199 yards total offense. Three quarterbacks saw playing time for the Trojans, with junior Riley Korkos (5-of-11, 18 yards) and sophomores Tate Richards (3-5, 17 yards) and Bishop Pfister (4-7, 118 yards, 1 TD) combining for 153 yards through the air.Carter Imke caught four passes for 89 yards, including an 81-yard scoring strike from Pfister in the fourth quarter. Jed Scott also had four catches for 37 yards, and Geyson Geiser had three for 19 yards.Against a good Pine-Richland defensive front, Findlay's offensive line allowed just two sacks."Against that caliber team and that program, that's pretty good," Adams said."One thing we talked about was we weren't sticky enough, meaning we were getting to our spot in an okay manner, but we weren't sticking and staying on guys. Guys were getting off (blocks) and getting loose. The next level for us, I feel, is sticking and finishing. It's usually between games one and two when you see the most improvement, so now it's not just about getting to a spot and staying there, it's about getting to a spot with bad intentions and finishing."