Ross’ Remy Bulger carries the ball against Southview. RSR/Tony Zimmerman
FREMONT – How many games does it take to go from “slow start” to “major problem.”
The Fremont Ross offense is hoping it doesn’t find out.
The Little Giants have certainly begun 2017 with that slow start on the offensive side of the ball. One game can be chalked up to first-game jitters or just needing to work out a few kinks. But the Little Giants were even less impressive with the ball in their Week 2 win at Southview.
Now, as Ross gets set to face its arch-nemesis, Sandusky, the offense needs to begin to find a rhythm or risk becoming a definable weakness on this Little Giants team.
“Not everyone is doing their 1/11th,” running back Remy Bulder said. “And once everyone does their 1/11th, we’ll be fine.”
While most teams want to run the ball to set up the pass, the Little Giants find themselves needing to pass to set up the run. In last week’s 20-8 win over Southview, the Cougars sent six men to stuff the run and pressure the quarterback. Not only was Ross out-numbered in its ability to block, but the passing game was unable to take advantage of the man-to-man coverage and force Southview to back out of its aggressive, box-loading gameplan.
Through two games, quarterback Hayden Lehmann is 18-for-28 passing for 327 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Until the Little Giants make opponents pay for making themselves vulnerable to the passing game, running won’t be an option.
“Until Hayden can start beating people with his arm, people are going to keep loading the box,” coach Chad Long said. “We got to block better up front. We got to understand people are going to bring six guys until Hayden can start completing some of those passes or we can get the lineman to keep making just a little bit longer of a block so we can find a lane to get through.”
When Ross does run, the Little Giant ball-carriers must be quicker at finding their holes and getting back to the line of scrimmage faster. While Bulger leads the team with 26 carries and 103 yards, Long would like to see the 5-foot-10, 220-pounder use his frame to plow ahead.
Offensive lineman Shawndre Koch waits for the snap against Southview. RSR/Tony Zimmerman
“He ran the ball hard, he made some things happen, but we want him to be more north-south running,” Long said. “He was going quite a bit east-to-west. That’s something we’ve been harping on him, you don’t have the speed, you’ve got to go north and south.”
Another area the Little Giants need to improve upon is their conversion rate on third- and fourth-down. In two games, Ross is 9-for-25 on third- and fourth-downs, but penalties have hamstrung the Little Giants. Ross is 8-for-11 on third-down and 6 or less to go. However, the Little Giants have had 12 third-downs of 13 yards or more, of which they have converted only once.
“We need to be on the same page, stick with each other and don’t give up,” said senior offensive lineman Shawndre Koch. “I think (we lose) a little bit of the focus, when you lose a one-on-one battle, it kind of gets in your head a little bit. The momentum in yourself goes down.”