By Bill Bray
LIMA – House, Lightning, Bronze. Three words that were on the minds of the Ross faithful Friday night as, with a heavy heart, the Little Giants took care of business with their fourth TRAC win and seventh overall.
House. Referring to long time little Giant coach William “House” Jones who passed away this week at the age of 47. The team was hit hard by his loss and wanted this to be the game honoring the coach. “Tonight, the kids wanted to honor House,” coach Chad Long said. “We aren’t playing for House; we are honoring House.” The coaches folding chair that he sat in at games had a presence at the game and a few players even sat in it at different points of the night.
Lightning. While Northwest Ohio was having games postponed because of storms in the area, in Central Ohio lightning was seen off in the distance. The lightning on the field once again belong to Kaden Holmes. The junior signal caller combined with a few different receivers to throw five touchdown passes. His stats read, 13 completions, 22 attempts for 156 yards with one interception to go with his five touchdown tosses.
Bronze. Lebronze Barnett got moving from the running back position. The senior had been shut down much of the season, but in his finest moment, Barnett carried the ball 15 times and gained 90 yards with one touchdown.
The Little Giants (7-1, 4-1) got on the board first with just :28 second off the clock. Holmes connected with Bryson Hammer for a five-yard catch. Johan Silver’s kick gave Ross a 7-0 lead. Their lead was short lived as on the ensuing kickoff; Lima’s DJ Clark returned the ball 99 yards to put Lima right back into the contest. Shalom Stout added the extra point, and the score was tied at 7-7.
Ross took the lead back with 8:28 remaining in the first quarter as Labronze Barnett rammed in from the three. Silvers kick made it 14-7. Still in the first quarter with 5:30 left Holmes found Adam Hrynciw with a 14 yards strike to increase the Little Giant lead to 21-7. The final scoring in the first quarter was on a safety as the Lima running back was tackled in his own goal line to improve Fremont score to 23-7.
Ross scored four times in the second quarter. Kelandre Jones found the end zone at the 10:22. Two different times during the quarter it was Holmes finding Elijah Simms for scores. The first one with an 11-yard scoring strike and another strike to Simms for 12 yards. Lima answered with an Aiden Howard to Zavion Garner 77-yard bomb. It probably goes without saying that Silver made all the extra point.
The scoring quieted way down in the second half. In fact, Ross replaced their regulars with younger players for most of the half. Playing with a running clock, Fremont’s final score came with 5:04 remaining in the third quarter when “Super Toe” Silver nailed a 45-yard field goal to increase the Little Giant Lead to 54-14.
Lima scored last with 1:49 left in the third period with Aiden Howard plunged in from one yard out.
The win marks the first time since 2010 that Fremont Ross has enjoyed seven wins after eight weeks of the season.
The next two weeks are the biggest weeks of the season for the Little Giants. Friday night they host Toledo Central Catholic a 28-7 win over Toledo Whitmer who is Fremont’s week 10 opponent.
Currently Fremont Ross is rated fourth in Division II, region six while Toledo Central Catholic is rated sixth. Toledo Whitmer is rated fifth in Division I, region two. (These rating are prior to Friday night’s results).
