FREMONT – Same song, different verse.
A week ago, the Fremont Ross football team fell victim to a number of big plays – or miscues, depending on one’s point of view – going against its special teams.
Friday night, the Little Giants again gave too many big plays – but these didn’t come against the special teams, but rather its vaunted defense.
St. Francis scored three touchdowns within a three-minute span in the first quarter and never looked back in taking a 39-7 victory from the Little Giants.
“We were sloppy tonight,” head coach Chad Long said. “It goes right back to that first half, the three easy scores they had, were nothing we weren’t prepared for. We got to step up and make plays. These kids aren’t young anymore. There’s no excuse for that anymore. They’re not performing.”
The Knights wasted little time. Beginning its first possession at Ross’ 35-yard line, St. Francis quickly gained 31 rushing yards on its first four snaps of offense, before hitting the Little Giants with a 14-yard touchdown pass for a 6-0 lead with 8:18 to play in the first quarter.
Ross then went three-and-out on its next possession, punting the ball away and putting St. Francis at its own 30-yard line. On first-down, Knight senior Todd Bumphis took a jet sweep around the right side of the line and took off down the St. Francis sideline for a 70-yard touchdown, the Knights’ second score in 90 seconds.
The script replayed itself, as Ross punted after three plays then St. Francis broke loose for a 44-yard run on its second play of the next series, taking a 22-0 lead with 5:55 to go in the first quarter.
“We have to play with some sort of consistency,” Long said. “After they scored those three touchdowns, we were able to contain them a little bit, then we started getting stupid penalties, which cost us, going from fourth-and-15 to first down, simple things like that.”
Dontrez Brown
Despite the deep, early hole, Ross showed signs of life. The Little Giants put together their best drive of the game, moving from their own 20 down to inside the Knights’ 5-yard line. But the Little Giants failed to punch the ball into the end zone and turned it over on downs.
The defense finally got a handle on the St. Francis offense, forcing a three-and-out before Dontrez Brown blocked the Knights’ punt, recovered by Marcus Peters, giving Ross the ball back at the 2-yard line.
Then it was Ross’ turn it score quickly, as Andrew Born punched it in on the first play after the blocked punt for a 2-yard touchdown, cutting the deficit to 22-7 with 7:32 remaining in the quarter.
With the momentum, the Little Giant defenders held as St. Francis failed to convert on a fourth-and-2 from its own 47, setting Ross up with good field position.
The Little Giants picked up a pair of first downs before a fumble on third-and-long gave the ball back to St. Francis who hit a 24-yard field goal on the last play of the first half for a 25-7 lead.
“Moving the ball is nice, but putting it in the end zone is great, and that’s not what we’re doing,” Long said. “I think we have three games this year where we scored seven points and that’s not acceptable. If we have to start moving some kids around to get them in there, that’s what we have to do, no matter the grade, or if they’re back-ups or not. That’s what we have to look at.”
Midway through the third quarter, St. Francis scored again, this time on a 75-yard run-after-catch by RaShad Craig, growing the lead to 33-7.
St. Francis scored again early in the fourth quarter on a 6-yard touchdown run and finished with 292 yards of total offense, 217 of which came on scoring plays.
Andrew Born
The Little Giant offense managed just 128 yards of offense and things aren’t likely to get any easier. Born, the team’s leading rusher and most dangerous offensive weapon, left the game in the third quarter with an apparent arm injury, putting into question Born’s availability going forward.
“We lost Andrew born, probably or the rest of the year, and that’s devastating for our running game and what he gives to us,” Long said. “Now, (Xavier Urbina) and (Daniel) Rusher are going to have to step up and carry the load running the ball.”
Kaden Holmes, who completed 8-of-19 passes for 40 yards and rushed for 11 more, hyperextended his knee and was replaced late in the game by Cyrus Lagrou, though Long said the move was largely precautionary and is optimistic Holmes’ injury isn’t serious.
The Little Giants fall to 1-3 overall, 0-1 in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference. Ross hits the road for three-straight games, beginning next week at Findlay (1-3, 0-1).
“We have to get better as a football team,” Long said. “Or we’re probably going to be 1-9 if we don’t.”
St. Francis 39, Fremont Ross 7
Score by quarters
SF| 22—3—8—6 39
FR| 0—7—0—0 7
Scoring summary
First quarter
SF – Charles Green 14 pass from Dayven Kizer (pass fail), 8:18
SF – Todd Bumphis 70 run (RaShad Craig run), 6:45
SF – Craig 44 pass from Kizer (Joe Krause pass from Craig), 5:05
Second quarter
FR – Andrew Born 2 run (Alec Slemmer kick), 7:32
SF – Jarrett Puckett 24 field goal, 00:00
Third quarter
SF – Craig 75 pass from Kizer (Ryan Bee run), 7:50
Fourth quarter
SF – Gabe Edinger 6 run (pass fail), 7:45