It is too soon to tell the extent of the right leg injury of Findlay's All-Ohio quarterback Ryan Montgomery, who was flipped head over heels by a low hit from Central Catholic safety Kevin Arnold on Friday night.

The heavily-recruited Montgomery — who has committed to the University of Georgia, college football's preseason No. 1-ranked team — was scrambling to the left side on a second-and-1 play when he was upended and landed awkwardly just 2:55 into the game on the Trojans' first possession.

As of Sunday, Montgomery had yet to be examined by a medical specialist.

“We will know more early in the week,” said Mike Montgomery, Ryan's father and a former Findlay and Miami (Ohio) University player. “He will attack rehab like his hair is on fire.”

The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder, a four-year starter who entered the game with 7,584 passing yards and 89 touchdowns in his career, had moved the Findlay offense 45 yards to the Irish 33 on the team's first possession. After Findlay called a timeout, a limping Montgomery took one more snap before exiting for the game.

He left the field for evaluation, and later returned in street clothes with his right leg wrapped from mid-thigh to shin.

As he sat on the back of a golf cart talking to his teammates as they left the field following their 54-21 loss, Montgomery said that he was not sure how severe the injury was.

Last season, Montgomery was 258 of 376 passing for 3,377 yards and 38 touchdowns, and rushed for 257 yards and 10 scores to lead Findlay to an 8-3 record and a share of the Northern Lakes League's Buckeye Division title.

He was named first team Division I All-Ohio, All NLL Buckeye, all-district, and the The Blade's 2023 player of the year. He was 2 of 3 passing for 33 yards, and ran twice for 3 yards before exiting on Friday night.

In Montgomery's absence, Findlay's 5-10, 170-pound sophomore Riley Korkos took over at QB. He was impressive under the conditions, completing 13 of 19 passes for 180 yards, including a 69-yard TD pass to Jacob Ragland in the first quarter, and a 6-yard scoring pass to Jackson Rhoades to get Findlay within 34-21 midway in the third quarter.

WHAT WE LEARNED IN WEEK 1

Central has reloaded: With major losses to graduation, back-to-back state champion Central Catholic appears to simply have reloaded judging by its 54-21 win over Findlay on Friday.

The most pressing issue for the Irish was replacing their entire starting offensive line, a group that paved the way to a Division II state title and 15-1 finish in 2022, and a D-III state crown and perfect 16-0 run last year.

The new offensive front is composed of a senior, a junior, and three sophomores, a group that averages 6-3 and 293 pounds.

Their work enabled new senior quarterback Isaiah Fox to go 16-of-19 passing for 211 yards and two touchdowns in his debut as a starter.

Senior running back Tyler Morgan ran 20 times for 141 yards and two touchdowns, and junior back Anthony Sylvester added 99 yards and three scoring runs on just eight attempts as Central topped Findlay 517-224 in total offense, and ran its winning streak to 32 games.

Liberty Center has reloaded: The area's other top team from 2023 — 15-1 Division V state runner-up Liberty Center — also appears to have simply reloaded despite huge losses to graduation.

The Tigers, who had gone 29-2 the past two years, opened the 2024 season with a convincing 38-0 blanking of Tinora, which went 7-4 last season and shared the 2023 Green Meadows Conference title with Antwerp and Ayersville.

Liberty Center's eighth-year head coach Casey Mohler (77-15 record), saw promise from the quarterback duo of senior Grady Miller and junior Kaden Kreinbrink, who combined to go 6 of 8 passing for 204 yards and two TDs, and a ground game that piled up 256 yards.

The Tigers' defense limited the Rams to 161 total yards in running Liberty Center's regular-season winning streak to 26 games. The Tigers are favored to win their third straight Northwest Ohio Athletic League title.

Take 3 for Vicars at Delta: Beginning his third head-coaching stint at Delta, Mike Vicars had success in the visiting Panthers' opener on Friday, a 55-6 pounding of Ayersville, which was 8-3 last season, and shared the GMC title.

“The kids played really hard,” said Vicars, who was 62-29 at Delta from 1999-2006, and 5-5 when he returned in 2013. “They had a really good summer, and you can only work so hard for so long before you've got to get a pay day. They got one. They did a good job and played really well.”

Delta had lost last year's opener 27-7 at home against Ayersville, and finished 3-7 overall, 1-6 in the NWOAL. The Panthers have not had a winning season since going 6-4 in 2015, and had gone 21-57 between 2016-2023.

“It's something they asked me to do and not something I thought I was going to do six months ago,” said Vicars, whose last head coaching job was at Bedford (6-4) in 2019. “I said no [to Delta] four or five times before I relented. But, we have some really, really nice kids. I wouldn't say we're a super talented team, but they are really good people.”

On Friday, Delta jumped out to a 35-0 lead against a Pilots team that, in fairness, was hit hard by graduation. Senior Landon Lintermoot ran 13 times for 69 yards and scored four touchdowns for the Panthers, and freshman Marcus Nagel rushed for 104 yards and a TD on just three carries, and added an interception on defense.

Nagel's father, former Delta All-Ohio player and wrestling standout Mark Nagel, is a Panthers assistant who played for Vicars at the beginning of his first run at the school (1999-2002).

“They're just trying to rebuild their own self-esteem, I think, about trying to be good football players,” Vicars said. “They must sense something because they were there all summer [for offseason workouts], just about all of them, which is a coach's dream.

“We don't have many seniors [seven on roster], but the ones we have all play, and they did a good job of getting everybody to show up.”

Strong debut for Rutherford: It didn't take long for new head coach Craig Rutherford to make an impact with former Northern Buckeye Conference rival Otsego on Friday night, when his Knights romped to a 41-7 win over visiting Bowling Green.

Aided by a knowledgeable veteran staff of assistants, including former Otsego head coach Matt Dzierwa, Rutherford's new team executed a stark one-year turnaround against BG, which had beaten the Knights 44-31 in last year's opener.

Emerging as an offensive leader for Otsego was junior Keeghan Hutton, who rushed 26 times for 185 yards and three touchdowns, and added an 86-yard TD reception. The Knights finished 4-7 last year.

Rutherford, who played for his father — 35-year head coach Jerry Rutherford — at Eastwood, later served seven years as an assistant on his father's staff before succeeding him as head coach there in 2017.

In his first season, Craig guided Eastwood to its best season ever, a 14-1 finish as Division V state runner-up. He led the Eagles through 2022 before stepping away. He spent 2023 as an assistant under Andy Brungard at Anthony Wayne before returning to the head-coaching ranks at Otsego.

Whitmer opens strong: In their 2024 debut, the Whitmer Panthers turned in an impressive effort in a 42-14 win over visiting Dublin Coffman, which went 10-4 and reached the Division I regional finals last season before falling 21-14 to eventual state runner-up Springfield from southwest Ohio.

With former Start and Springfield head coach Pat Gucciardo, Jr., back at his alma mater as the Panthers' new offensive coordinator, the Whitmer offense clicked from the outset behind third-year starting quarterback Brady Ford (12 of 16, 230 yards, two TD), who has committed to Eastern Illinois.

Panthers back Jaden Jones ran for 60 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries, and fellow junior Joey Morales ran 5 yards for one score, and added an 81-yard TD catch. Whitmer plays at Central Catholic this Friday.

Heintschel back to business: In his third year as the Eagles' starter at QB, University of Pittsburgh-bound senior Mason Heintschel picked up where he left off in 2023 with a solid all-around effort in Clay's 38-21 win at Sandusky on Friday.

Heintschel was 22 of 35 passing for 293 yards and four touchdowns, and ran 15 times for 119 yards. His top target was junior Brodi Ostrander (13 catches, 125 yards, TD), and senior Landon Eversman scored the Eagles' final three touchdowns (37 and 20-yard receptions, 2-yard run) after Clay had trailed the Blue Streaks 21-17 late in the first half.

City League struggles remain: Outside of eventual City League champion Lima Senior (9-3, 6-0) last year, the six Toledo Public Schools teams in the CL struggled mightily in nonleague play in 2023.

In 25 games against non-CL foes last year, the six TPS schools were a combined 1-24 and were outscored 1,160 to 252, an average of 46-10 per game.

On Friday, preseason CL title favorite Lima Senior opened with a 35-20 win over Piqua, but the TPS teams were 0-6 and were outscored 239-39 (39.8 to 6.5).

First Published August 25, 2024, 10:23 p.m.