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By Zak Reinhart
reinhartz@findlay.edu
Findlay Oilers football jumped from No. 15 to No. 10 after taking down No. 9 University of Indianapolis last Saturday. The 30-10 win starts the new era of a new head football coach and, of course, increases the excitement leading up to the home opener against Fairmont State (0-2) Sept. 12 at noon.
The Oilers walked into Key Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana determined to prove to Findlay faithful that, while there may be a new coaching staff, they are still the same football program that had produced some awesome seasons.
Findlay saw excellent play from their defense, allowing only 10 points and 250 yards of total offense. Findlay was aided with excellent play from Jon Slaper, who led the team with 9 tackles. Defensive back Christion Stokes tacked on 5 more as well as Samuel Lawanson who also had an interception. Eric Davis was able to hunt down the quarterback once this game putting up the only sack of the game for Findlay. Defensive coordinator Mike Ridings was very proud of the results he saw on the field last Saturday.
“Everyone was really just doing their job, and they were playing together.” Ridings said. “We were a more physical team than them.”
On the offensive side of the ball, Findlay saw solid play from two quarterbacks, Chase Harrison and Andrew Leonard. When asked whether fans should expect to continue to see a two-quarterback look, Coach Tyler Johns was very transparent.
“Chase is our starting quarterback. Chase is our guy,” Johns said. “But Andrew is an extremely talented player. Andrew is a very smart quarterback.”
Johns was very clear that there will be more to be seen from the sophomore.
“The plan all along was to play Andrew. That will continue to be a thing,” Johns said. “It will week to week, it might be a little more, a little less.”
Harrison passed for 222 yards on 17 completions with a touchdown pass, Leonard finished with 50 yards on three completions and a touchdown pass to suit. Outside of quarterback play, Findlay’s run game was electric, leading rusher Christian Davis finished the game off with 107 yards and two touchdowns on 12 rushing attempts. Second leading rusher Dominic Bennett added 35 more yards on six carries.
In the air, Findlay saw three receivers with more than 60 yards receiving. Both Delon Hurt and Denny Furlong had receiving touchdowns for the Oilers.
While UF football had a strong season last year ending the season 10-2 with the first NCAA Playoff game in Donnell Stadium in the history of the program. Going into this season, there were a lot of questions as to what this program could look like going forward with a new coaching staff.
“As a football community, when you look at it, I hope they see, everything I said is true,” Johns said. “I think I’ve been very outspoken that we were coming in to build off of where this thing was already.”
Johns is strictly focused on taking it one week at a time.
“We won a big game,” Johns said. “But that was step one in an 11-step mission.”
