Garrett Schneider makes a tackle against Findlay Friday. RSR/Tony Zimmerman
FINDLAY – It shouldn’t have happened.
Fremont Ross had no business coming back. Not after a pick-6 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
And certainly not after an end zone interception while trailing by two touchdowns with just four minutes remaining.
Game over. Drive home safely. Sportswriters start your typing.
But it did happen.
Despite the near-impossible odds and swimming against the tide of momentum, the Little Giants made a comeback.
It turned out the game wasn’t over. Those who left early to beat the traffic choose poorly. A 478-word story rendered useless.
And yes, ultimately, Ross’ miracle comeback had an unsavory finish. The result in the win-loss column remains the one that looked inevitable early in the fourth quarter. But Ross’ 55-49 triple-overtime loss was so much more.
This game showed what Ross football is made of.
When the scoreboard reads 42-21, it’s easy to say, ‘That’s it.’ It’s only natural to want to get this abomination over and go home.
Coaches can teach blocking technique, point out opposition tendencies on film and prepare gameplans with excruciating detail.
But coaches can’t teach will. Or Pride. Or stick-to-it-ness. Those come from within or they don’t come at all.
Adversity does not build character. It reveals character.
These Little Giants have it.
“Credit to our kids, battling back, being 21 points down. Many kids would fold up and our kids are fighters,” head coach Chad Long said. “That’s the Fremont football mentality now, we’re going to fight until the end. One of these days we’re going to come away from a close game with a win.”
Ross had a gut-check Friday night and passed. The Little Giants lost the game, but they won a level of respect from their coaches, their fans and even their opponents they may not have had before. And hopefully, they instilled a belief in themselves.
This team dug deep Friday night, but it’s going to have to do so again in the coming weeks. The road gets no easier for the Little Giants. St. John’s lurks next week, followed by a long trip down to Lima. Then back-to-back games against Toledo Central Catholic and Whitmer.
With a 2-2 record, Ross probably needs to win three of its next four games to keep realistic hopes of a playoff berth alive. It won’t be easy to come out of this stretch with a 5-3 record. But after what this team did in Findlay, making the impossible possible, who’s going to tell this team they can’t do it.
They’ll need to fight and claw in the weeks ahead.
It’s a good thing they got started Friday night.