NAPOLEON - It took Ken Winters one season.
For the firs time in 16 years, Fremont Ross football earned a league championship. The visiting Little Giants held Napoleon scoreless in the second half in a 21-7 victory to capture at least a share of the Northern Lakes League Cardinal Division crown.
Ross (6-3, 4-0) finished first in the Greater Buckeye Conference in 2010. The Little Giants won their last four games.
"We don't want to share it," junior Kayden Moreland said. "We want to dominate the league. We brought a new coach in— we want to win (it). That was the No. 1 priority. Winning out (to finish the season)."
High school football Opponents playing with fire when they throw at Ross' Kevin Jones
Zacarius Burel (38 yards) and quarterback Breylen Garza each rushed for a touchdown after the game was tied 7-7 in the first half. Ross mostly kep the ball on the ground with the run game.
"It was working," said Winters, in his first season at the helm for Ross. "Why go away from it — they weren't stopping it."
Moreland helped the Little Giants seize control as he recovered a fumble before Burel's score.
"We'd just turned the ball over," Moreland said. "We needed a change of momentum. We had to get the ball back."
Moreland then led the charge on a group stop on fourth down at Napoleon's 30 to set up Garza's touchdown.
"All year, he's made plays," Winters said of Moreland. "He continued to do that. We need him to keep doing that."
Napoleon took the opening kickoff and used all but a fraction of a second on the clock to drive for a touchdown.
"Hat's off to them, they had a game plan to limit our possessions," Winters said. "We knew we couldn't make too many mistakes. We got some turnovers and were able to blow it open."
Ben Waggoner ran in from the 1 to tie the game in the second quarter. Dylan McDonald intercepted a pass for Ross.
Winters told the Little Giants before the season that the mission was to 'Return to glory.' Ross travels to Bowling Green to finish the regular season.
"These kids were 1 or 2 years old," Winters said of 2010. "It's very significant. We're not satisfied. We want the whole thing to ourselves."
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This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Ross runs past Napoleon for share of championship