Trojans slam door on Fighting Irish

FINDLAY -- Amir Edwards has a nose for the end zone.

So when the Central Catholic junior stepped out of the grasp of three would-be tacklers for an 80-yard touchdown run on the game's third play, it looked like the Fighting Irish were off and running.

But Findlay's defense slammed the door on the Irish, limiting them to just 72 yards the rest of the way, as the Trojans posted a 31-7 Three Rivers Athletic Conference win last night at Donnell Stadium.

The win keeps Findlay (5-0, 2-0) in first place in the TRAC with Whitmer.

"[Our defense] has seen that Central Catholic can score points," said Findlay coach Mark Ritzler. "They shook that play off, because it was the fact that we didn't get blown off the ball, it was just a missed tackle."

The Trojans, who are off to their best start since the 1984 team was 8-0, didn't miss tackles the rest of the way. Central Catholic (3-2, 1-1) finished with just six first downs, 116 yards rushing, and 36 yards passing.

"We had to tackle better. We missed the tackle [on Edwards' touchdown]," said Findlay's Austin Niswander. "We knew if we missed a tackle, [Edwards] would take it to the house."

Findlay's defense not only shut down Central Catholic, it got in on the scoring action when it put the nail in the coffin midway through the third quarter. Central Catholic quarterback Ryan Roberts backpedaled to set up a screen, but the ball popped out of his hand, and Niswander jumped on it in the end zone.

"The ball popped loose, and I jumped on it," Niswander said. "Right place, right time."

That score came just over a minute after Niswander had hit Jimmy Orwick on a jailbreak screen for a six-yard touchdown. That capped a 12-play, 81-yard drive, which took 5:22 off the clock.

"It was a learning experience for us tonight," Central Catholic coach Greg Dempsey said. "We missed tackles, and they executed.

"The jailbreak screen got us a few times. It is tough to defend, and they do a nice job running it out of different formations."

The Niswander to Orwick TD was a replay of an earlier Findlay score when Paul Cosiano hit Orwick for a seven-yard score on a screen.

Findlay's first score came on Ben Kupferberg's one-yard burst that capped a 12-play, 80-yard drive that covered 4:02 of the first quarter. Brandon Shanahan kicked a 22-yard field goal for Findlay.

The 31 points the Irish gave up nearly matched the 34 points they had given up in their first four games. Central Catholic had allowed just nine points in the last three games.

"They outplayed us. They were ready to go," Dempsey said. "They played better than us and coached better than us."

Cosiano finished 11-of-17 passing for 182 yards to lead Findlay. Vance Settlemire led the Trojans' ground game with 69 yards.

But it was Findlay's defense that settled in and shut down the Central Catholic attack.

"We aren't good enough to just show up and play," Ritzler said. "We need to know when they line up in a certain formation, we need to know where we should be. If we don't, we'll miss a tackle and get burned."

And it only happened once to the Trojans Friday night.