TOLEDO – Ross head football coach Chad Long called it “a good, old-fashioned, butt-whooping.”
It’s hard to argue the point.
Whitmer dominated the Little Giants from the midpoint of the first quarter through the final whistle Friday night. While Ross could say it had a chance to win its three previous losses this season, but the same cannot be said for Friday night’s 41-3 loss to the Panthers.
“We knew Whitmer was good and they put it to us,” Long said. “We were outmanned, outnumbered, everything you could think of tonight. Our kids will bounce back and be ready to go.”
The Little Giants’ high-water mark of the night came on their second possession of the game. Quarterback Hayden Lehmann’s swing pass to Devyn Jagodzinksi went for 42 yards thanks to a terrific run after the catch by the senior receiver, down to Whitmer’s 12-yard line.
Three incomplete passes from the 12, however, forced the Little Giants to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Mikey Contreras for a 3-0 lead with 7:10 to play in the first quarter.
And then everything went wrong.
Ross’ next possession ended in a punt which saw the Panthers’ Jasean Rader return the kick 35 yards to the Little Giants’ 6-yard line. Two players later, Devin Mauder scored his first of two touchdowns on the night on a 1-yard run for a 7-3 lead.
Late in the first quarter, Lehmann fumbled while sacked, the Panthers recovered, giving their offense a short field, taking over at Ross’ 18. Three plays later, Mauder scored again, this coming from three yards out.
The Little Giants were forced to punt from their own 19 on their next possession. Rader received the kick and took it the house 53 yards for Whitmer’s second touchdown in less than 90 seconds and a 21-3 lead.
Radar returned four punts in the first half, totaling 136 yards.
“That punt returner is one of the best, I would say, in the conference next to (Jase) Bowen from Central Catholic,” Long said. “They did something a little different, they started setting up a return wall and our kids were not smart enough to get outside the wall.”
The Panthers added to their lead on their next possession when quarterback Riley Keller connected with Patrick Mappe for a beautiful pass and catch and a 29-yard touchdown giving Whitmer a 28-3 lead at halftime.
“I think the defense played OK,” Long said. “We still gave up too much to the running game, but we bent but didn’t break. That was an awesome throw by the quarterback and a great catch too. That was the only big play I think they had, besides special teams. Our defense was on the field too much.”
Whitmer continued to dominate in the second half which was played with a running clock from the mid-point of the third quarter on. The Panthers’ first two possessions of the half saw them go on drives of 83 and 65 yards but settle for field goals on both.
Ross, on the other hand, ran just six plays in the quarter and failed to gain a yard. The Little Giants had the ball only once in the fourth quarter where they gained their only 16 yards of the second half.
Whitmer outgained Ross 367-109 in offensive yards.
Lehmann finished the night just 7-of-29 for 97 yards with one interception.
“Hayden missed some kids open. Roger Burling could still be running on two of those missed passes,” Long said. “He didn’t have his best game and unfortunately we need him to have his best game all the time, especially with (us) not being able to run as much. He has to be on and we’re going to watch video and try to correct some of the mistakes and move on from there.”
Ross rushed for just 12 yards on 20 carries.
The Little Giants fall to 4-4 overall with a 2-3 mark in the TRAC. They will host Clay next week at Don Paul Stadium. Clay (4-4, 2-3) defeated St. John’s for the first time in program history Friday night 27-22.
“Clay is a very, very dangerous team,” Long said. “They got an explosive offense a great quarterback and they spread the ball out. We got to be ready to go.”
| Football box score | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score by quarter | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Tot | ||
| Ross | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Whitmer | 7 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 41 | |
| Ross | Whitmer | |||||
| Total yards | 109 | 367 | ||||
| Rush-yards | 20-12 | 44-213 | ||||
| Pass yards | 97 | 154 | ||||
| Comp.-Att-TD-INT | 7-29-0-1 | 9-15-1-1 | ||||
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 0-0 | ||||
| Penalties-yards | 3-25 | 7-70 | ||||
Scoring summary
First quarter
FR – Mikey Conteras 29 field goal, 7:10
WHS – Devin Mauder 1 run (Eric Filby kick), 3:53
Second quarter
WHS – Mauder, 3 run (Filby kick), 11:34
WHS – Jasean Rader 53 punt return (Filby kick), 10:05
WHS – Patrick Mappe 29 pass from Riley Keller (Filby kick), 7:23
Third quarter
WHS – Filby 24 field goal, 8:21
WHS – Filby 20 field goal, 4:28
Fourth quarter
WHS – Wisler Coutler 5 run (Filby kick), 4:51
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Ross: Ethan Chumley 6-16; Chrystjan Mancini 8-13; Garrett Schneider 2-2; Remey Bulger 1-2; Hayden Lehmann 3- (-21). Total: 20-12. Whitmer: Kobe Myers 16-91; Devin Mauder 13-95; PaSean Wimberley 1-4; Wisler Coutler 6-49; Riley Keller 5- (-26). Total: 41-213.
PASSING – Ross: Lehmann 7-29 97. Whitmer: Keller 9-15 154.
RECEIVING – Ross: Devyn Jagodzinki 5-63; Roger Burling 1-16; Bryce McKinstry 1-5; Kamyron Jones 1-12. Total: 7-97. Whitmer Zach Walling 2-50; Kobe Myers 2-12; Jasean Rader 3-13; Patrick Mappe 2-79. Total: 9-154.