Findlay's football game at Fremont Ross Friday night was historic before it even started.
The way it ended made it more so.
Fremont Ross took a 48-44 lead with six seconds on the clock. But Findlay got a scintillating 95-yard return on the ensuing kickoff, with Luke Weihrauch starting and Dallas DeLaCruz finishing an unbelievable run for glory as the Trojans stunned the unbeaten, state-ranked Little Giants 50-48.
"I prayed to God some miracle would happen at the end and look at this. It's crazy, just crazy," said Donovan Harris, a senior receiver who had 115 yards and three touchdowns in the contest.
Findlay and Fremont Ross have staged some classic battles in the 100 seasons the two schools have been squaring off. Findlay's 55-49 triple overtime win comes recently to mind, along with Fremont's 43-42 win a year later when the Giants went for two – and made it – in the final seconds.
Friday's clash will likely top them all.
Fremont Ross entered the game 5-0 overall, 2-0 in Three Rivers Athletic Conference games and ranked 12th among Ohio's Division II schools. Findlay was 1-4, 0-2.
The Little Giants were averaging 45.8 points a game under the leadership of 2021 TRAC Player of the Year Kaden Holmes and a record-setting corps of receivers.
Despite a give-away touchdown to start the game – Findlay failed to cover a squib kick, Fremont recovered the ball at the Trojans 25-yasrd line and needed just 54 seconds to take a quick 7-0 lead – it was Findlay striking early and often.
A failed fake punt gave Findlay one short drive, a 19-yard punt gave the Trojans another and when sophomore quarterback Ryan Montgomery, who would throw for 346 yards and six TDs, fired a 2-yard TD pass to Antwon Murphy late in the first half, Findlay had a stunning 20-7 lead.
Findlay still led at the half (23-14), but Fremont Ross rallied big time in the third quarter behind Holmes, who would finish the night with over 500 yards total offense, doing as much damage with his legs (171 yards, 1 TD rushing) as with his arm (30-of-45, 341 yards, 4 TDs). The Little Giants had four possessions in the period and cashed in on all of them in taking a 41-37 lead.
Fremont Ross was even more in control when Anthony Vann intercepted a fourth-down Montgomery pass with nine minutes left in the game. The Little Giants ate much of that time and lots of yards with Holmes hitting Hammer, Elijah Simms and Adam Hrynciw with 9-, 15- and 12-yard passes to get a new set of downs, while rushing for 30 yards on the drive as well.
Findlay's defense came up clutch with 2:19 left in the game, though, forcing a fumble and recovering the ball deep on its own end. On third-and 10 from its own 28, Harris got free deep down the field and Montgomery found him for a 48-yard gain. Montgomery then hit Murphy for 18 yards and Reece Little for 7 yards and the score.
With 43 seconds on the clock, Findlay led 44-41.
It seemed but a moment in time.
It ended up being an eternity.
Holmes gained 26 yards on a quarterback draw to open Fremont's final possesion. He then went up top, firing 10-, 13-yard and 8-yard strikes to Hrynciw and finally the 25-yarder to Hammer on a deep crossing pattern in the end zone.
Just six seconds remained.
A moment.
An eternity.
"We've talked about it before," said Findlay High coach Stefan Adams. "The kids knew what to do, just a little backyard football and it worked out."
"We talked about it in the huddle. We said we were not going down," Weihrauch said. "I grabbed it, I was going down and I just threw it. Luckily Dallas was right there to grab it and take off."
"Luke came in and got it, and when he felt the pressure he tossed it back to me," DeLaCruz said.
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Findlay quarterback Ryan Montgomery (15) gets a pass off over Fremont Ross's Luke Durbin (56) Friday night at Don Paul Stadium in Fremont. KENT TARBOX/for The Courier
A penalty allowed Fremont Ross to boot its last kickoff virtually from midfield. Rather than kick it out of the end zone, the ball was more of a liner that Weihrauch fielded. He headed up field, but was disappearing in a crowd. Somehow the ball popped free, DeLaCruz grabbed and headed up the home side sideline, outrunning two defenders on his way to one of the most remarkable endings in the 100-year history of the rivalry.
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