Findlay Looks to Bounce Back Against Lake Erie

The Game

Coming off a loss at the hands of the ODU Panthers, Findlay needs to win out if they want to keep their G-MAC Championship hopes alive. That starts on Saturday, April 17 when they host Lake Erie at 1:00 pm.
The Series

Since losing the first-ever matchup between the two teams in 2010, Findlay has won seven consecutive against the Storm. Against Lake Erie, all-time, the Oilers are 7-1 and average 52.6 ppg including a series-high 70 points against LEC in 2018.

Saturday will be the first time Lake Erie has traveled to Findlay since 2017 and is just the fourth time in the series that the Storm will make the trip to Donnell Stadium.

Radio Coverage

Saturday's contest can be heard in Findlay by tuning in to 88.3 WLFC or listeners can stream online by visiting 883wlfc.com.

Video Stream

Video streaming of the contest will be produced by Findlay's UFTV and will be streamed on the Great Midwest Digital Network.

Findlay vs Lake Erie Video

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Head Coach Rob Keys

Head coach Rob Keys is in his tenth season at the helm of the Oilers football program in 2021.  He has recorded a 66-38 record with the program as a head coach, which includes a 54-32 mark in conference games. He has coached Findlay to winning records in eight of his nine seasons including 2017 when he lead the Oilers to their first-ever NCAA Division II Playoffs.

For Findlay's 2021 coaching staff, please click on the following link:

2021 Coaching Staff

Findlay Oilers (3-1, 3-1 G-MAC)

Last week's loss was a heartbreaker in which Findlay seemingly outplayed Ohio Dominican in every way except the one that matters most, points. Missed opportunities haunted Findlay in the pouring rain as they lost 14-10 to fall to 3-1 on the year.

 

Coming off their first loss of the season, the Oilers still remain in contention for their first-ever Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) title, but must take care of their own business. Findlay needs a win over Lake Erie and a Tiffin win over Ohio Dominican this week to set up a championship game next week against the Dragons which would create a three-way tie for the conference title.

 

Allowing just 11 points per game this season, Findlay's defense has been the story through four games this year. Not only are they keeping teams off the scoreboard, but they are scoring points, as well. Through four games, the Oilers' defense has accounted for three touchdowns as junior Christopher Jefferson has two and junior Jeremiah Jackson has one.

 

Jefferson is second on the team with 24 tackles this season and has a fumble recovery, two interceptions, and four pass breakups. Findlay's leading tackler is junior Kyle Nunn who has 25 stops this season including 2.5 tackles-for-loss.

 

On the defensive line, junior Reggie Micheaux has burst onto the scene in a starting role for the Oilers. This year he has 19 tackles and leads the conference with eight tackles-for-loss and four sacks.

 

Offensively, the Oilers are putting up 387 yards per game with 204 of those yards coming through the air. Senior quarterback Matt Winzeler has an efficiency rating of 127.0 which ranks second in the conference and still leads the conference in touchdown passes with eight. He has struggled, at times, with accuracy as he has completed 59-of-109 (54.1%) of his passes and has four interceptions, but that does include the most recent game against ODU in which pouring rain made completing passes a much more difficult task and despite that, Winzeler attempted a season-high 33 passes.

 

Getting the bulk of the touches out of the backfield has been senior Brian Benson who has 54 carries for 282 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Derek Lynch has 30 carries for 201 yards while freshman Aidan Eubanks, and freshman Garret Clark both have more than 100 yards, as well.

2021 Season Statistics
2021 Roster

Lake Erie Storm (0-1, 0-1 G-MAC)

This season has been nearly non-existent for the Lake Erie Storm who have battled more with COVID-19 than they have on the gridiron. Now into the sixth week of competition in the Great Midwest, LEC has played just one game, their season-opener against Ohio Dominican back on March 11. Since then the Storm have had three cancellations and a bye week and come into the game against Findlay with more than a month off.

Because of that time off, it is hard to tell what the Storm will look like when they make the trip from Painesville to Findlay this Saturday, but if history is any indication, the Oilers will be a heavy favorite as the Orange and Black have won seven straight against the Storm with those wins coming by an average of 38 points.

Taking the snaps will be redshirt sophomore Gerald Gardner, a native of Houston, Texas. In the first week against ODU, Gardner completed 19-of-32 passes for 170 yards and threw two interceptions.

His favorite target is Nate Dantley Jr. who is in his second full season with the Storm. In that game against ODU Dantley had seven catches for 57 yards. In his career, Dantley has 80 catches for more than 1,200 yards, but has only found the endzone four times. In 2019, Dantley was named G-MAC Co-Freshman of the Year and earned second-team all-conference.

Dantley is not the only threat as senior tight end Josh Hufstetler returns after putting together one of the best seasons for a tight end in conference history. Last year he had 42 receptions for 615 yards and eight touchdowns which was enough to earn him second-team all-region honors from the D2CCCA.

Defensively, the Storm return all-American and three-time all-G-MAC selection Justin Growel. Last season, Growel put together video game type numbers as he tallied 69 tackles on the season that included a ridiculous 21.5 tackles for loss which ranked seventh in the country last season. Growel is currently the Divison II active career leader in tackles-for-loss per game at 1.86. He also had nine sacks last season and forced four fumbles and had one fumble recovery.

2021 Season Stats
2021 Roster

Links

NCAA Division II Stats
NCAA
NCAA Division II Football
American Football Coaches Association
D2Football.com
Great Midwest