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Local Sports from The CourierSaturday, October 13, 2012TRAC Football: Findlay High bounces backstaff writer OREGON -- Findlay High's football team stumbled out of the gate at Oregon Clay on Friday night. But the Trojans got back on their feet in the second quarter, hit their stride in the third and romped to a 54-20 Three Rivers Athletic Conference win over the Eagles. "Clay is a lot better then people think. We knew it was not going to be easy coming up here," said FHS coach Mark Ritzler. "After the start we had, I'm real happy for the kids. We challenged them to come up and make plays, the defense came up with big stops and we kept plugging away at them." Findlay improved to 6-2 overall, 3-2 in the TRAC. With Toledo Whitmer (8-0, 5-0) and Toledo Central Catholic (8-0, 5-0) winning on Friday, the Panthers and Irish continued their drive to what is shaping up as a Week 10 winner-take-all showdown for the league championship. Findlay may be out of the running for the TRAC title. But Friday's win keeps alive the Trojans slim hopes of making the Division I, Region 2 playoffs. Findlay completes regular season play with home games against Toledo St. John's on Oct. 19 and Fremont Ross on Oct. 26. Vance Settlemire and Paul Cosiano spearheaded Findlay's win over Clay. Settlemire, a senior running back who became Findlay High's career rushing leader in last week's game against Whitmer, carried 24 times for 228 yards and scored twice. It was the third straight game Settlemire has rushed for more than 200 yards and moved him, unofficially, within 275 yards of Shaun Ball's single-season school record of 1,584. Cosiano, picked off four times in Findlay's loss last week to Whitmer, came back with an outstanding game against Clay. The senior quarterback completed 16 of 22 passes for 264 yards and four TDs. He also rushed for two scores. Perhaps still a bit groggy from last week's beat down at Whitmer, Findlay struggled early. Two Settlemire fumbles led to Oregon Clay touchdowns as the Eagles (3-5, 1-4) bolted to a 14-0 first-quarter lead before a vocal Homecoming crowd at Ted Federici Stadium. Findlay's defense ignited a spark that turned things around. Five plays after junior defensive back Zach Haynes recovered a Clay fumble at the Eagles' 30-yard line, Cosiano kept the ball and snuck into the end zone from a yard out to cut Clay's lead to 14-7 three minutes into the second quarter. Stymied on its first five possessions by turnovers, penalties and near-miss execution, Findlay scored 40 straight points and outscored Clay 56-6 from the second quarter on. "We stopped ourselves early on," Ritzler said. "We turned the ball over twice. We had a chance for a big play but a pass went through the receivers' hands .... "We needed to settle in a little bit. We had to get adjusted to their offense. On defense, they were blitzing and moving around a lot. It took our offensive line a little while to get a feel for what they were doing." After a three-and-out defensive stop, Findlay pulled within one when Cosiano hit Jimmy Orwick with a 21-yard TD pass with 5:16 left in the second quarter. When a holding call stalled another Clay drive, Findlay went 84 yards in just seven plays to take the lead. Settlemire's 56-yard dash highlighted the drive. His 1-yard burst capped it. Cosiano cranked it up to open the second half, firing TD passes of 22 yards to Wyatt Krupp, 39 yards to Orwick (6 receptions, 108 yards) and 4 yards to Joseph Davidson (6, 67). Clay halted Findlay's 40-point spree when Anthony Ramirez made a sensational one-handed TD catch of a Josh Pennington pass with six seconds left in the third quarter. Findlay responded, though, with Settlemire and Cosiano adding fourth-quarter TDs to put it away. Findlay generated 304 yards rushing and 568 yards total offense. Devin Dominique led Clay with 161 yards rushing on just seven carries. Dominique raced 90 yards to put Clay up 6-0 midway through the first quarter, then caught a 25-yard TD pass and a 2-point conversion strike from Pennington to boost Clay's lead to 14-0 with 2:57 left in the first quarter. In a game that got chippy at times, Findlay was penalized 12 times for 173 yards, Clay nine times for 89. "It was an emotional, intense, physical ball game out there tonight," Ritzler said. "They weren't backing down but neither were we. It was a good win." Findlay 0 19 21 14 -- 54 Oregon Clay 14 0 6 0 -- 29 First Quarter OC -- Dev. Dominique 90 run (kick blocked). OC -- Dev. Dominique 25 pass from Pennington (Dev. Dominique pass from Pennington. Second Quarter FIN -- Cosiano 1 run (McKinniss kick). FIN -- Orwick 21 pass from Cosiano (kick failed). FIN -- Settlemire 2 run (pass failed). Third Quarter FIN -- Krupp 22 pass from Cosiano (McKinniss kick). FIN -- Orwick 39 pass from Cosiano (McKinniss kick). FIN -- Davidson 4 pass from Cosiano (McKinniss kick). OC -- Ramirez 25 pass from Pennington (pass failed). Fourth Quarter FIN -- Settlemire 3 run (McKinniss kick). FIN -- Cosiano 19 run (McKinniss kick). Fin Clay First Downs 21 18 Rushes-yards 39-304 13-187 Passing Yards 264 165 Comp-Att-Int 16-22-0 20-34-0 Punts-Avg. 3-34.3 5-33.0 Fumbles-Lost 3-2 6-2 Penalties-Yards 12-173 7-70 individual statistics rushing -- Findlay, Settlemire 24-228, Cosiano 8-47, Niswander 2-11, Rodman 2-9, Orwick 1-4, Dean 1-3, Fletcher 1-2. Oregon Clay, Dev. Dominique 7-161, Dam. Dominique 10-40, Seymore 5-5, Pennington 7-(-25). passing -- Findlay, Cosiano 16-22-0, 264 yards. Oregon Clay, Pennington 20-34-0, 165. receiving -- Findlay, Orwick 6-108, Davidson 6-67, Krupp 2-58, Settlemire 1-26, Niswander 1-5. Oregon Clay, Ramirez 8-72, Rowe 8-57, Dev. Dominique 2-22, Dam. Dominique 2-14, Hanneman: 419-427-8408, davehanneman@thecourier.com Subscribe to The Courier. |
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