FREMONT – Who knew the field at Don Paul Stadium was so slanted?
Chrystjan Mancini runs through a hole in the Central Catholic defense. RSR/Tony Zimmerman
No matter what the Fremont Ross football team tried Friday night, the Little Giants could never seem to get the field flipped in their favor. And just when they looked to be making progress in that regard, they inevitably backed themselves up some more.
Field position, special team mistakes and aggressive Toledo Central Catholic defense combined to be too much for Ross to overcome as the Fighting Irish took a 27-7 victory over the Little Giants.
“Honestly this is a one score game and a hard-fought game but we left too many opportunities out there against a good program,” coach Chad Long said.
Throughout the night, Ross found itself starting its drives deep in its own territory, while the Irish enjoyed terrific field position all night.
The Little Giants’ average starting field position was its own 23-yard line. Central Catholic began four drives inside Ross’ 35-yard line and averaged a starting field position of its own 47.
Ross could never flip the field. Whenever they had the chance to do, the Little Giants were hampered by their own errors.
Central Catholic scored the night’s first touchdown two plays after blocking a Ross punt deep in Little Giant territory. The Irish took possession at the Ross 9-yard line and quickly scored on a 3-yard run by Devon Rivers.
Ross answered early in the second quarter when quarterback Hayden Lehmann connected with Devyn Jagodzinski down the Ross sideline from 34 yards out to tie the game 7-7.
Central Catholic’s Devon Rivers runs the ball against the Ross defense. RSR/Tony Zimmerman
Central Catholic and Ross traded three-and-outs in their next possession, but Ross’ ended with a short punt, setting up the Irish at the Little Giants’ 38-yard line. Central Catholic scored seven plays later on Rivers’ second touchdown of the half to take a 14-7 lead into halftime.
Though Ross trailed at halftime, the Little Giants had outgained the Irish by 80 yards (183-103), but that was due to Central Catholic having such short field to go for touchdowns.
“Field position was obviously a key issue tonight,” Long said. “We could not get out from playing in our end zone tonight.”
Ross (4-3 overall, 2-2 TRAC) looked poised to tie the game near the end of the third quarter. The Little Giants moved from their own 25-yard line down to the Irish 10, thanks to back-to-back pass plays between Lehmann and Noah Hotz for 15 and 29 yards.
But once Ross reached first and goal, they were driven back by back-to-back sacks by Central Catholic’s Dominique Kimble. Lehmann was sacked again on fourth down.
Lehmann was under constant, swarming pressure with little time to throw the ball, particularly as the game went on and Ross was in critical third- and fourth-down situations.
“I knew coming in to the game I wasn’t going to have much time to make plays but when I did have the them, that’s when plays did happen,” Lehmann said. “But their defense did a good job of confusing our line and getting pressure on me.
“I didn’t expect to get this many hits tonight.”
Lehmann finished the night 13-for-32 for 208 yards. Ross totaled 273 yards of offense, but only 90 in the second half.
Still trailing 14-7, Ross moved from its own 8-yard line to the Central Catholic 33 on a 59-yard by Chrystjan Mancini. Ross’ drive, however stalled and Kimble again sacked Lehmann on fourth-down, giving the Irish the ball at its own 41.
The next play, Central Catholic’s Jase Bowen took a wildcat formation snap and took off for a 59-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 20-7.
Then came the clincher.
Ross fumbled the ensuing kickoff, giving the ball back to Central Catholic at the Little Giants’ 22-yard line. Two plays later, Bowen scored his second touchdown run in 48 seconds to put the game away.
“Special teams killed us tonight,” Long said. “Bottom line.
“We killed ourselves,” Long added. “I can’t say Central beat us, we killed ourselves too many times tonight.”
Central Catholic totaled 281 yards of offense with only six coming via the passing game. Rivers totaled 112 yards on 19 carries while Bowen had 98 on six carries.
“I don’t think our defense played bad at all the entire night, I thought we hung with them for as much as we can. We were battling field position all night long and we couldn’t overcome it. Defensively, we made some pretty good stops when we needed to, with the interception and turnover on downs. We were just on the field too much.”
Ross travels to TRAC-leading Whitmer (7-0, 4-0) next Friday. Whitmer defeated Clay 52-3 Friday.
Scoring summary
First quarter
TCC – Devon Rivers 3 run (Jarod Landrum kick), 1:01
Second quarter
FR – Devyn Jagodzinski 34 pass from Hayden Lehmann (Mikey Contreras kick), 8:25
TCC – Rivers 6 run (Landrum kick), 3:20
Third quarter
No scoring
Fourth quarter
TCC – Jase Bowen 59 run (kick fail), 10:21
TCC – Bowen 19 run (Landrum kick), 9:33
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING — FR, Chrystjan Mancini 5-73; Remey Bulger 10-27; Hayden Lehmann 9- -34. Total: 24-65.
PASSING — FR, Hayden Lehmann, 13-32, 208.
RECEIVING — FR, Noah Hotz, 5-84; Devyn Jagodzinski 3-43; Roger Burling 1-29; Chrystjan Mancini 1-15; Garrett Schneider 1-25; Remey Bulger 2-12.
2025 Football Team
| Player # | Name | Height | Weight | Position(s) | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marquez Williams | 6'0" | 225 | DE | 12 |
| 3 | Bryce Shiet | 6'2" | 160 | WR/DB | 12 |
| 4 | Mason Englund | 6'4" | 175 | WR/DB | 11 |
| 5 | Dylan McDonald | 6'0" | 160 | WR/DB | 11 |
| 6 | Cade Reineck | 6'2" | 205 | TE/LB | 12 |
| 7 | Kylen Simms | 5'9" | 170 | WR/DB | 10 |
| 8 | Marcus Lewis | 5'10" | 143 | WR/DB | 10 |
| 9 | Tallon Brown | 5'11" | 200 | RB/DL | 12 |
| 10 | Stephen Reiter | 5'9" | 165 | WR/DB | 12 |
| 11 | Cameron Gonzalez | 6'0" | 200 | DL/TE | 11 |
| 12 | landon imms | 5'7" | 145 | QB/DB | 10 |
| 13 | Camdyn Shiets | 6'0" | 150 | WR/DB | 10 |
| 14 | Jaxson Mackey | 6'4" | 205 | TE/LB | 11 |
| 15 | Breylen Garza | 5'9" | 165 | QB | 11 |
| 16 | Kayden Moreland | 6'0" | 160 | WR/DB | 10 |
| 18 | Garin Parker | 5'9" | 145 | WR/DB | 10 |
| 19 | Noah Crawford | 5'9" | 150 | WR/LB | 10 |
| 20 | Kevin Jones | 6'0" | 165 | DB | 11 |
| 21 | Jamiere Johnson | 6'0" | 150 | WR/DB | 12 |
| 22 | Evan Butler | 6'0" | 145 | WR/DB | 10 |
| 23 | Nick McKeever | 5'10" | 185 | WR/DB | 11 |
| 24 | Joel Pickard | 5'8" | 150 | RB/LB | 10 |
| 25 | Raylen Roberts | 5'9" | 185 | RB/DB | 10 |
| 26 | Ben Waggoner | 5'9" | 170 | RB | 11 |
| 27 | Carson Lewis | 5'11" | 190 | K | 11 |
| 28 | Brayson Messer | 5'7" | 130 | WR/DB | 10 |
| 29 | Cameron Gonzalez | 5'11" | 200 | TE/DE | 11 |
| 30 | Easton Reineck | 5'8" | 150 | TE/LB | 9 |
| 31 | Konner Frasure | 5'9" | 135 | WR/DB | 9 |
| 32 | Parker Jackson | 5'11" | 200 | RB/LB | 11 |
| 33 | Ja'Shawn Sellers | 5'10" | 150 | WR/DB | 11 |
| 34 | Aarick Jurovicik | 5'8" | 185 | RB/LB | 10 |
| 35 | Zacarius Burel | 5'9" | 150 | RB/DB | 9 |
| 36 | Deshawn Johnson | 5'9" | 205 | RB/LB | 9 |
| 39 | Dawson Berndt | 5'6" | 130 | QB/DB | 9 |
| 42 | Anthony Sorg | 6'0" | 200 | LB | 12 |
| 44 | Brenden Fisher | 5'10" | 160 | TE/LB | 10 |
| 50 | Delonta McDonald | 6'0" | 240 | OL/DL | 11 |
| 51 | Kaiden Swint | 6'1" | 245 | OL/DL | 11 |
| 52 | Nyshawn Morrisette | 5'9" | 209 | OL/DL | 10 |
| 53 | Jarek Mackey | 6'0" | 225 | OL/DL | 9 |
| 55 | La'Marious Byrd | 6'0" | 275 | OL/DL | 12 |
| 56 | Abryi Sewell | 6'1" | 230 | OL/DL | 10 |
| 57 | Matthew Biddle | 6'3" | 210 | OL/DL | 10 |
| 58 | Aiden Moreno | 5'7" | 236 | OL | 12 |
| 60 | Jay Ross | 5'11" | 250 | OL/DL | 11 |
| 68 | Kase Myers | 6'2" | 225 | OL/DL | 9 |
| 70 | Kole Myers | 6'4" | 350 | OL/DL | 12 |
| 71 | Javonte Warren | 6'2" | 280 | OL/DL | 11 |
| 72 | Eli Tommer | 5'10" | 230 | OL/DL | 10 |
| 74 | Stone Schoch | 6'1" | 250 | OL | 10 |
| 76 | Angel Torres | 5'8" | 290 | OL/DL | 11 |
| 77 | Jayden Slater | 6'2" | 300 | OL/DL | 12 |
| 80 | Abram Stiltner | 5'11" | 180 | OL/DL | 9 |
| 88 | Javion Johnson | 5'10" | 175 | TE/DL | 9 |
| 91 | Landon Ward | 5'11" | 170 | OL/DB | 9 |