Marty Loncar isn’t finished knocking people around. An All-Ohio linebacker from Lake Catholic, Loncar has committed to play college football at Dayton. The Flyers are members of the Pioneer Football League in NCAA Division I FCS and do not offer athletic scholarships, but that doesn’t matter to Loncar. He’s just ready to play more football, and get a high-level education while he’s at it. “I’m super excited, really pumped,” the son of Marty and Stephanie Loncar said. “I can’t wait to get there and play. It’s gonna be fun.” Loncar was one of the area’s top defensive players the past two years. This past fall in his senior season, he had 161 tackles, seven sacks, 13 tackles for loss, two fumble recoveries and an interception. He also scored on a blocked punt. It all added up to earning News-Herald All-Star honors, first team all-district and first team Division IV All-Ohio recognition. He’ll now take his talents to Dayton. “I went for a visit last weekend and enjoyed it so much, I knew that’s where I wanted to go,” Loncar said. “The staff there is really nice and they have a winning culture. I got to hang with them and the players for a little bit. They’re all great people.” Loncar, who also considered John Carroll, Case Western Reserve and others, plans to major in mathematics with a minor in actuarial science with a possible focus in data analytics. As his senior year winds down, he’ll take a 4.4 grade-point average with him to Dayton. The education/academics combo at the college level has him excited. He said Dayton’s plan is for him to continue playing inside linebacker as he did at Lake Catholic. “This was always a goal of mine, to play college football,” he said. “I didn’t know for sure it was going to happen, but I knew I wanted to. “I started playing tackle football in fourth grade. I don’t know if I was good or not back then. I think young kids like that are like a bunch of chickens running around with their heads cut off, but I knew I loved the game.” With Loncar patrolling the middle of the field and tackling anyone who invaded his territory, Lake Catholic compiled a 21-4 record over the past two seasons. He said he’ll run track this coming spring to get faster for the college football scene, but admitted he’s looking forward to the next journey in his gridiron career in southern Ohio. “It’s been a great career here at Lake Catholic,” he said. “If someone would have told me years ago this is how it all would have gone, I don’t know if I would have believed it, but I’d be pretty happy about it.” Related Articles News-Herald players of the week for Jan. 22 High school wrestling roundup: Lake Catholic surges at CIT Girls wrestling: Lake Catholic trio leads area contingent at Top Gun News-Herald players of the week for Jan. 15 Perry Invitational swimming: Ream, Lake Catholic boys handle business en route to team title ...read more read less