Findlay efficient in victory over Northview

FINDLAY – Findlay scored a lot of points on Friday.Style points were not plentiful among them.But that was all right with Stefan Adams and the Trojans. They were primed to win a football game, not a beauty pageant."I don't want to minimize the win. I don't think that's fair to the kids and the work they put into it," Adams said after Findlay's 42-7 Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division win over Sylvania Northview."Let's just say that, the way execution goes, everybody feels we can play better. That's the big thing. We have to be able to come out and execute better, especially if we want to be able to compete next week in a big game with Anthony Wayne."Findlay had played inspired, efficient football in taking NLL leaders Perrysburg (14-10) and Toledo Whitmer (35-33) to the wire. The Trojans continued that elevated level of play on their first drive against Northview, marching 49 yards in eight plays to take a quick 7-0 lead on Griffin Lane's 1-yard burst.Two straight drives ended in three-and-out punts, though, and after Carter Imke helped Findlay go up 14-0 thanks to a big punt return and an 11-yard TD reception from Miles Bailey, Northview scored on a weird tipped ball catch-and-run TD.Facing a second-and-3 from the Findlay 47, sophomore quarterback Wyatt Ulmer, who had replaced injured Northview starter Conner Pieja late in the first quarter, looked for Gavin Garcia in the right flat.Cornerback Will Hammer read the play, broke in on it, and was in good position to make an interception.But the ball glanced of his hands, and continued farther down field, right into the mitts of Garcia. Garcia turned and, with the defense now behind him instead of in front of him, legged it 47 yards for score.With under four minutes left in the first half, the Wildcats trailed the Trojans just 14-7."Hats off to them," Adams said of a young Northview team (42 of the 57 varsity players are underclassmen) that is struggling along at 1-8."They did some things, dinking and dunking. They moved the ball against Perrysburg; they moved the ball against Whitmer."We were off yesterday; we were off today (because of fall break). With no school we were out of our routine. But at the end of the day, no matter what routine you may have been given or what goes on circumstance-wise you have to be ready to play."That (first half) wasn't the standard that we have been playing. They put pressure on us to respond. That was the challenge."Findlay answered that challenge in a hurry.Following Northview's score, Imke, who had one punt return for a touchdown negated by a penalty but still managed to amass 155 all-purpose yards, returned the kickoff to the Findlay 34. Imke then caught two passes to move the Trojans near mid-field.Bailey had the big play on the 66-yard drive. On a second-and-10 from the 50, Bailey faked a handoff and plowed straight up the middle. A scrum quickly formed around him – Northview players walling him up on one side; Findlay players pushing from the other. Bailey somehow kept his knees churning and his feet moving, and suddenly burst out of the far side of the pack and raced 33 yards before being hauled down.Four snaps later, with 17 seconds on the second-quarter clock, Bailey plunged through the line for one of his two 1-yard TD runs of the game.Bailey got it done with his arm as well, completing 12-of-23 passes for 166 yards and three TDs. In addition to his second-quarter TD pass to Imke, Bailey hooked up with tight end Hudson Yeager on a 71-yard catch-and-run score in the third quarter, and with Greyson Geiser on a third-time's-the-charm 32-yard strike to make it 42-7 and trigger a running clock nearly the entire fourth quarter.Defensively, Findlay set the tone early. On Northview's second possession of the game, Jack Young, Trace'son Hyde and Xavian Garcia had back-to-back-top-back sacks of Peija. Hyde and Young finished with three sacks each.Hyde and Sebastian Brankamp led the Trojans with five tackles each and Chase Harris, Garcia, Young, Yeager and Hammer all had four.Findlay limited Northview to zero yards rushing in the second half and just 13 yards rushing in the game.Findlay will wrap up the 2025 regular season Friday when the Trojans host Anthony Wayne. The Generals are 5-4 after Friday's 24-3 loss to Perrysburg.Findlay is 6-3 after Friday's win. With Springfield's 10-7 loss to Kettering Fairmont, the Trojans moved into the No. 3 spot in the Division I, Region 2 rankings that determine playoff qualifiers and pairings. A win over Anthony Wayne would guarantee the Trojans a first-round bye for the playoffs; win or lose Findlay has already clinched at least a home game for either the first or second round."We're one step closer to the goals we talked about," Adams said."We've been re-shifting what we're trying to do, but all the things we want are still right in front of us." Northview 0 7 0 0—7Findlay 7 14 14 7—42 First QuarterFIN – Lane 1 run (Geiser kick) Second QuarterFIN – Imke 11 pass from Bailey ( Geiser kick)SN – Garcia 47 pass from Ulmer ( Green kick)FIN – Bailey 1 run (Geiser kick) Third QuarterFIN – Yeager 71 pass from Bailey (Geiser kick)FIN – Bailey 1 run (Geiser kick) Fourth QuarterFIN – Geiser 32 pass from Bailey (Geier kick) FIN SNFirst Downs 17 10Rushes-yards 34-184 18-13Passing Yards 166 127Comp-Att-Int 12-23-0 13-25-2Punts-Avg. 5-31.6 8-31.6Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0Penalties-Yards 7-40 7-55INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING – Findlay, Williams 4-13, Bailey 13-83, Scott 1-12, Lane 8-40, Hammer 1-1, Lomeli 3-7, .Pfeister 4-28. Sylvania Northview, Pieja 4-(-6), Wilson 3-6, Ulmer 5-13, Adamski 4-4.PASSING – Findlay, Bailey 12-23-0, 166 yards. Sylvania Northview, Ulmer 13-21-2, 127 yards; Pieja 0-4-0, 0 yards.RECEIVING – Findlay, Imke 5-36, Geiser 4-44, Scott 1-4, 2-82. Sylvania Northview, Wiederhold 5-46, Pedro 2-10, Coley 2-11, Garcia 2-46, Elton 1-6, Eide 1-8.