Football Deja vu

While reading the Findlay Courier online this past Thursday, I read the article they wrote about the Findlay High game the next day. The article talks about that week’s opponent and the coach’s view of what FHS is expecting.

This opponent was Marion Harding High. Harding is a long time opponent. Marion is about an hour drive south of Findlay. This bit in the article caught my interest:

“I don’t know how much our kids know about the tradition of Marion and Findlay, but I do,” [Coach Mark Ritzler] said.

“Marion is a tough town with tough kids and it’s fun competing against guys like that.”

Ritzler can give his players first-hand accounts.

Like the game in 1985, Ritzler’s senior year at Findlay High, when the Trojans were tied for the Buckeye Conference lead and they went to Marion to face an 0-4 Presidents team. But records didn’t mean much that night as Marion built a 14-6 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Findlay scored with 11 minutes left and Ritzler caught a 2-point conversion pass from Robb Phillips to tie it. Ritzler also caught the game-winning touchdown pass with about 5 minutes left as Findlay got out of Marion with a hard-fought win.

The impressions have stayed with Ritzler to this day.

“I remember walking out on their field and their fans are screaming and the atmosphere was intense,” Ritzler said. “You want to play in an environment like that.”

Present is all that matters to Trojans

He was being diplomatic. The Marion fans back in 1985 were downright nasty that night. How do I know? I was there.

As I have posted previously, I was on the Trojan varsity team in 1985 with Mark and Robb. Even though I never started, since I was on the varsity I got to dress and go to all the away games.

Then the locker rooms at Marion’s stadium were behind the stands and we had to walk past the fans to and from the locker room. We were booed and called all kinds of names. Some even said some disparaging remarks about our mothers.

We were flat and through the first half Marion outplayed us.

At half time we went to the locker room a bit dejected that an 0-4 team was beating us. One guy, Dave Manley, tried to stir us up by urging us to play better. Coach Cromwell came in after a meeting with the other coaches and told Dave to sit down and be quiet. The coach wasn’t a yeller but that half time meeting was loud as he ripped the defense for seeming to forget what we practiced. He also loudly complained about the offense. He knew we were better than an 0-4 team and we better start playing like we were.

Then suddenly he was done and started to discuss the adjustments we needed to make to win the game.

Another game that year was also played in a hostile environment. We played Lorain Senior in Lorain.

Usually at away games we would change into sweats, throw the gear into our travel bags, get on the bus, and leave a few minutes later..

At Lorain, our buses were parked at a secure location away from Lorain’s stadium and at the end of the game we didn’t leave until a couple of hours after the game. They even had a local Burger King deliver a burger, fry, and drink for the team to the stadium. Then after the meal we got a police escort out of town.

I also remember they didn’t let the band or cheerleaders make the trip because the year before, when we played Admiral King in Lorain, the band bus was stoned after the game breaking almost all the windows out. The school was afraid it would happen again.