LIMA – Lima Senior head coach Andre Griffin has said throughout the year that the Spartans were a second half team and they showed that again against their longtime rival Findlay by posting a thrilling, 28-21 overtime victory over the Trojans in a Three Rivers Athletic Conference clash Friday night.
The big win elevates Lima Senior to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the league and hands Findlay its first loss of the season. The Trojans fall to 6-1 for the season and 3-1 in TRAC action.
“Coming into the game we knew it was the biggest game of the year and our kids were focused all week and like we have been doing all year we are playing incredible football in the second half so hopefully we can can keep that up.”
Griffin said the defense got the job done all game.
“We only gave up 13 in the first half against a team that is averaging 44 and we will take that all the time,” said Griffin, who watched his defense give up just eight in the second half.
The Spartan defense came up big in the first half on the Trojans first two drives when Findlay entered the red zone. However the Spartans stonewalled the Trojans and Findlay had to settle for field goals. By holding them to six instead of a possible 12 or 14 points, it allowed the Spartans to stay close and get their offense going.
“We just made too many mistakes on all three areas especially the kicking game which was terrible tonight” said Findlay head coach Mark Ritzler. “They challenged us to beat them man to man sometimes and we weren’t able to do it.”
The Spartan secondary pretty much played risk-reward coverage as they were flagged three times for pass interference but they also held talented Trojan signal caller Tre Miller to no touchdown tosses and the Spartan defense produced one interception. Miller finished the game going 16-of-36 for 192 yards.
Ritzler added that the Trojans could never establish the run as the Spartans held Trojan running back D’On Stinson, who came into the game with 649 yards, to 89 yards and two touchdowns. Stinson only gained 17 yards in the second half.
Walker, who dove in from 2 yards out on a fourth and goal, on the Spartans’ possession in overtime to record the winning touchdown, rushed for 157 yards with two touchdowns.
It was Walker’s 45-yard touchdown run late in the first half that not only gave the Spartans their first touchdown with 3:24 left in the first half but it seemed to wake up the offense that came out sluggish for much of the first two quarters.
“Our offensive line started off slow but they finished pretty strong and Adrine Mitchell made some big plays with his feet.” Griffin said. “He kept the chains moving with his feet on some drives.”
Mitchell, who ended up with 41 yards on 18 carries and one touchdown, was effective through the air, going 15 or 20 for 141 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Mitchell’s touchdown pass midway through the third quarter gave the Spartans their first lead of the game at 14-13 when he hit Xavier Nichols from 27-yard out in the corner of the end zone for the touchdown. Mitchell’s 5-yard run in the fourth quarter put Lima Senior up 21-13 with 9:16 left in the game.
Findlay tied the score with just under six minutes left in the game when Stinson ran it in from 23 yards out to cap off a 74 yard drive. Miller tied the game at 21-21 when he ran in the 2-point conversion.
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