When the eight football coaches from the new Three Rivers Athletic Conference gathered for a preseason meeting in August, each spoke about their teams before taking a vote to determine a favorite to win the championship.
In fairness, the coaches did pick the right team. Whitmer (13-0) won the TRAC title as predicted, and will play Saturday in the Division I state semifinals.
But these same coaches were way off the mark on the runner-up.
That spot went to Findlay, which was predicted to place sixth, but closed the regular season at 9-1.
The man who guided the Trojans on that surprising run was sixth-year coach Mark Ritzler, who deflects credit to his players and assistant coaches for stunning the prognosticators.
He may try to dodge credit, but Ritzler could not avoid being selected as The Blade's 2011 coach of the year.
2011 ALL-BLADE FOOTBALL TEAM
Whitmer's Wormley stands above all
2011 All-Blade team and special mention
In taking that honor, Ritzler (32-29 career record) edged out other worthy candidates like Eastwood's Jerry Rutherford, Liberty Center's Rex Lingruen, and Whitmer's Joe Palka. Each of their teams produced 10-0 regular seasons and titles in the Northern Buckeye Conference, Northwest Ohio Athletic League and TRAC, respectively.
Findlay's lone TRAC loss came against Whitmer (49-23), but the Trojans beat St. John's (33-14), Central Catholic (31-7), Fremont Ross (42-39) and St. Francis (35-0), who were, in order, picked to place second through fifth.
"As coaches, we understand that predictions are based on the previous year's team and their record," said Ritzler, whose 2010 Trojans went 5-5 while playing in the former Greater Buckeye Conference. "But I think our kids took that as a challenge. That [sixth-place prediction] was a big motivator for them.
"We felt we had a pretty good chance of being good back in the off season. But by no means did we think we should win this many games. We just felt we could be a pretty good football team.
"I told our kids last week at the banquet, 'I doubt you're going to be picked sixth next year.' We've raised the bar, and now it's up to them to keep it there."
Ritzler, 44, who is married and has three daughters, continues to appreciate how lucky he is to be coaching, especially because of where he's coaching. He is a Findlay man through and through.
A 1986 graduate of Findlay High School, Ritzler played receiver and defensive back for the Trojans, and crossed paths with some notable coaches.
In 1984, as a junior, he was part of coach Dan Evans' team, which lost in the state playoffs in overtime to coach Dick Cromwell's eventual Division I state champion St. Francis Knights.
As a senior in 1985, he played for Cromwell, who left St. Francis to take the Trojans' job. Cromwell would return to the Knights, retiring in 2009 as one of Ohio's most successful coaches.
Ritzler moved on to the University of Findlay, where he played for legendary coach Dick Strahm, who was 183-64-5 from 1976-1998 and won four NAIA national championships. Ritzler said his experiences under Strahm made a huge impact on his life.
"You can't play for coach Strahm and not have him influence you," Ritzler said. "The thing about coach Strahm was the confidence that he had and the way he was able to take that and spread to his team. We went into every game believing we were going to win.
"No matter how many kids he had on the team, he had a personal relationship with each one of them. You had so much respect for him, and he was such a good friend to you. You would run through a wall for him. He made you feel invincible each weekend."
But it was a lesser-known Findlay coach who actually got Ritzler started in his current professions as an eighth-grade science teacher and head football coach.
"It was my ninth-grade football coach, John Miller," Ritzler said. "He was also a middle school science teacher. I was working here in the warehouse of a local hardware parts store, and he needed an assistant freshman coach.
"He knew I was in town and he gave me a call. That's what got me into coaching, and that's also what eventually got me into teaching. I was 23 or 24 and out of college. I went back and got my teaching [certificate]."
Ritzler was a Findlay High assistant coach for 16 seasons (1990-2005) before succeeding Cliff Hite as head coach in 2006.
Ritzler's time with Hite included three playoff appearances -- one with Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback in 1999, another which extended to the D-I state semifinals in 2002, and the third in 2005.
This year's playoff appearance -- a 35-28 first-round overtime loss at Hudson -- was his first as head coach.
"I've never coached at all anyplace else," Ritzler said. "I don't know anything but Findlay football. Our practice field out back, our locker room and Donnell Stadium.
"It means so much to me and I'm extremely proud to see the kids in our program going in the right direction. I can't ever see myself coaching anywhere else. This is football to me."
First Published November 24, 2011, 5:49 a.m.
