FINDLAY – Put him in the record book.
Hayden Lehmann, football
Ross junior quarterback Hayden Lehmann brought his team back from a 21-point fourth quarter deficit Friday night. Though Ross may not have gotten the win, losing 55-49 in triple overtime, Lehmann made Little Giants history.
Completing 25 of 43 passes, Lehmann set new program records with 428 yards passing and six touchdowns.
“We ran some different formations to give us more protection and run a lot of that bootleg and let him be able to sit up in that pocket,” coach Chad Long said. “He had a great game.”
Lehmann nearly doubled his season total Friday night. He entered the game with 485 yards on 32-of-65 passes this season with three touchdowns and four interceptions. The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder through three weeks, Lehmann at times struggled to maintain his mechanics and missed on throws he makes look routine in practice.
Friday night, when his team needed its quarterback to play up his high-level talent, Lehmann delivered. Rolling out of the pocket, buying time for his receivers to elude their coverage, Lehmann used his arm to deliver one strike after another, leading his receivers instead of throwing behind them. He found the open man and took his team on three-straight scoring drives, the last two coming in the last three minutes of the game.
“I figured out their coverage, they were running the same things all game and we kept running the same combinations and things were getting open,” Lehmann said. “Those (throws) are easy for me.”
Lehmann’s records are thanks, in part, to the play of his receivers. Roger Burling was fantastic, making 11 catches for 190 yards. Noah Hotz caught five balls for 102 and Devyn Jagodzinksi caught four for 82, each taking their turns coming up with big plays to engineer the Ross comeback.
Lehmann said he believes Friday night is just the start of Ross’ offense finding its groove.
“You’re going to see us come out a lot more explosive.”