FINDLAY, Ohio — 2023 Record: 8-3 (Made playoffs)
Head Coach: Stefan Adams (4th year)
Top Returning Players:
Ryan Montgomery, Senior QB (1st Team All-Ohio; Committed to Georgia)
2024 Schedule:
WEEK 1 8/23 @ Central Catholic
WEEK 2 8/30 vs. Lima Senior
WEEK 3 9/6 vs. Southview
WEEK 4 9/13 @ Clay
WEEK 5 9/20 vs. Fremont Ross
WEEK 6 9/27 @ Springfield*
WEEK 7 10/4 @ Anthony Wayne*
WEEK 8 10/11 vs. Perrysburg*
WEEK 9 10/18 vs. Whitmer*
WEEK 10 10/25 @ Northview*
*Denotes Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division game
Defending Northern Lakes League co-champions, the Findlay Trojans, are coming off a breakthrough season, and they attribute it to the team’s particular and selfless, D.A.W.G. mentality.
"We want to sustain that, we don’t want it to be a flash in the pan," said head coach Stefan Adams.
D.A.W.G. stands for Discipline, Accountability, Work Ethic and Grind, all core principles that have allowed the program to make noise over the past four seasons.
The Trojans put up over 40 points in each of their eight wins last season, but are not concerned with the amount they put up. Rather, simply getting the win.
"That’s the ultimate goal with us," said senior offensive lineman Baylor Wilkin. "It doesn’t matter if it’s a one-point win or a 50-point win. We’re always trying to win and get to the next game and win that.”
Adams said the team tasting success last season will have a domino effect into this year, breeding a consistent mindset of unconditional effort to win. Even if that means switching some guys around.
"We want to be here every single year, in the conversation as one of the better teams setting up for league and playoff and so forth," he said. "But really did we get the most out of our roster that we could possibly get out of it? Sometimes that’s gonna look different from year to year but obviously, we feel our kids are good enough and we can compete for championships. We’ll see what happens, but we’re competitors. And competitors want more, they want it all but we want to take it one day at a time and continue to improve and help develop those guys that maybe didn’t play last year and get the most out of them."
However, one constant that remains for Findlay is a soon-to-be-dog himself.
Senior quarterback and Georgia commit Ryan Montgomery made his future as a Bulldog official this spring and is prepared to capitalize in his final year with the Trojans, as they have all developed together over the last four years.
"I don’t care if I throw for 500 yards or throw for 50 yards, it really doesn’t matter to me, I just want to win," he said. "I think we’re ahead of where we were this year and I think us seniors just having last year’s experience under our belts, the highs and the lows, I think that’s just big for us too."
The program has not won a playoff game since 2021. Nonetheless, Montgomery said a playoff run remains a top priority and can be possible as long as the team steps up to fill the big shoes from last season.
“We want to win the title again this year and make a deep playoff run, but there’s steps to that," he said. "Those guys that we're going to have to replace, they were big losses, but I'm not worried about it at all. I know there's going to be guys that are going to step up and I'm really excited about that."
Adams added that even though some players will be taking on new, bigger roles, they should be ready to go if they have bought into the mindset he and the coaching staff have been preaching.
"We want to be able to have guys ready to go when their number’s called," he said. "Maybe those guys didn’t get a lot of game reps, but they got a lot of practice reps. So we’re excited to be able to see who really steps up once the scrimmage happens, who stands out, who’s grown up a lot and kind of see where we are as coaches and see where we still have to get to before game one.”