FREMONT – Within 90 seconds after kickoff of Fremont Ross’ final home football game of the season, the lights shut down over the northwest section of Don Paul Stadium, resulting in delay of about 10 minutes.
Sadly, it provided an apt metaphor for the Little Giant offense. Ross moved the ball well at times, only to shut itself down with plays resulting in big chunks of negative yardage. Though the defense played well –particularly in the first half – it wasn’t enough to avoid a 28-7 loss to the Whitmer Panthers.
“We can’t lose opportunities,” head coach Chad Long said. “We were in the red zone, we were able to move the ball quite a bit. We just had too many negative plays. Too many broken-down plays.”
With a steady rain falling, the first half belonged to the defense as neither offense moved the ball with real consistency and both teams’ best scoring opportunities bogged down near the goal line.
The Panthers reached the Little Giants’ 2-yard line late in the first quarter but on fourth-down Ross linebacker Garrett Schneider burst through the Whitmer offensive line to stuff Panthers’ running back Kobe Myers to get the ball back on downs.
Ross’ defensive stand was for naught, however, as the Little Giants’ first play of the ensuing possession ended in a fumble in the end zone recovered by Whitmer’s Cavon Butler for a 7-0 lead.
On its next possession, Ross marched from its own 25 down to Whitmer’s 13-yard line. But a first-down sack of 15 yards was followed by completions for -5 and -7 yards, respectively, turning the ball over to the Panthers at their own 40.
The Little Giant defense, however, gave the ball back to the offense after forcing a three-and-out and, once again, Ross moved the ball. Quarterback Hayden Lehmann completed four-straight passes and some good gains on the ground by Deryante Hardin moved the ball down to first-and-goal inside the Panthers’ 4-yard line. But a third-down run by Ethan Chumley was swallowed up by the Whitmer defense for a 5-yard loss. Ross then turned the ball over on downs the next play on a dropped pass, losing out on points with less than a minute to play in the first half, still trailing 7-0.
“I thought our defense played really well, once again,” Long said. “(The offense) was sporadic. We’d make some good plays, then we’re moving back. And then we’d make some more good plays and we’re moving back. And then we don’t make any good plays at all.”
Whitmer grew its lead to 14-0 on the first drive of the second half, marching 60 yards capped by a 3-yard run by Devin Mauder.
Trailing 21-0, Ross got itself on the scoreboard on the first play of the fourth quarter, when Lehmann scored on a 4-yard quarterback keeper, giving Ross a spark of life, but the Little Giants couldn’t continue the momentum. As the second half progressed, the Panthers’ size on the offensive line began to wear down the Little Giant defense as the Whitmer did a good job running the ball and kept the clock running.
“We were kind of lackadaisical and they were trying to strip some turnovers to get something going for the offense,” Long said of the defense. “You could see the running back was carrying (tacklers) and one of the receivers went down the field with them trying to rip it out instead of securing him and making the tackle.
“They were on the field too much,” he added. “We killed ourselves on defensive third downs, too many long third downs, some first downs on penalties. It was an ugly game.”
The loss drops Ross down to 3-5 overall this season, 2-3 in the TRAC and all but assures the Little Giants will miss out on the postseason.
While a season that began with so much optimism won’t have the ending the Little Giants envisioned in August, Long said his team will continue to battle through the season’s end.
“We can be 5-5 or we can be 3-7 – it’s their choice of what they want to be remembered for, as seniors and this team in general,” Long said. “I believe we have a good senior group, they’ll continue to keep on supporting one another and keep playing hard.”
The Little Giants travel to Oregon Clay (1-6, 0-5) next week. The Eagles lost Friday to St. John’s 44-13 and have lost six-straight games.
Score by quarter
Whit| 7 – 0—14 – 7 28
Ross| 0—0—0 – 7 7
First quarter
W – Cavon Butler fumble recovery in end zone (Austin Gibbons kick), 0:50
Second quarter
No scoring
Third quarter
W – Devin Mauder 3 run (Gibbons kick), 9:14
W – Zach Walling 48 pass from Riley Keller (Gibbons kick), 1:42
Fourth quarter
FR – Hayden Lehmann 4 run (Alec Slemmer kick), 11:55
W – PaSean Wimberly 62 pass from Keller (Gibbons kick), 3:51
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS –
RUSHING: Deryante Hardin 9-30; Ethan Chumley 6- (-5); Hayden Lehmann 7- (-38). Totals: 22- (-13)
PASSING: Hayden Lehmann 18-34 127, 0 TD, 2 INT
RECEIVING: Noah Hotz 7-51; Bryce McKinstry 4-48; Deryante Hardin 6-13; Ben Mosser 1-15. Totals, 18-127.
| Ross | Whitmer | |
| Total yards | 109 | 293 |
| Rush-yards | 22-(-13) | 39-92 |
| Pass yards | 127 | 201 |
| Comp.-Att-TD-INT | 18-34-0-2 | 11-20-2-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-1 | 1-1 |
| Penalties-yards | 6-50 | 7-55 |
| Punts | 5 | 4 |