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| George Fox wide receiver Leon Johnson III is off to the races. George Fox athletics photo by Jake Ryan |
By Brian Lester
D3sports.com
Haiden Schaan knows that when he throws the ball in the direction of Leon Johnson III, odds are a play is going to be made.
Like early in the third quarter of last Saturday’s game against Redlands. Schaan stayed patient in the pocket, took a hit and let the ball fly. Johnson caught the ball at the Redlands 20-yard line, beating the corner on the play, and took off for the end zone to give George Fox its first lead of the night at 28-21.
The Bruins, once down 14, went on to knock off the Bulldogs 38-31, the program’s first season-opening win since bringing the football program back to life nearly a decade ago.
Schaan threw four touchdown passes, including three to Johnson, a glimpse of the type of solid connection the veteran duo shares on the field.
“Leon is a tremendous athlete,” Schaan said. “He has crazy (athletic) capabilities, and just being able to trust that pretty much wherever I put the ball, he is going to be able to go get it, is huge. He takes advantage of his height and ability, and I have confidence that I can put the ball anywhere around his body, and he’s going to adjust and get it.”
Schaan threw for nearly 300 yards (289) and Johnson set a single-game record for not only touchdowns but receiving yards (174) as well in a victory over an opponent that came into the night receiving votes in the D3football.com poll.
“Haiden is great at reading defenses, reading where they are weak and doing what he can to show that,” Johnson said. “We took advantage of our opportunities.”
The funny thing is Johnson didn’t even know he broke the records until a couple of days later.
“I had guys tell me I broke records, and I was like ‘oh, which ones?’ It’s awesome but it’s not as big of a deal as what we did as a team," Johnson said. Without Haiden throwing the ball or the O-line blocking, I don’t get the ball. I had a great performance, but it wasn’t all on my shoulders. It was on the team.”
Johnson and Schaan are humble about their success, even if they did play an integral role in helping the Bruins end a streak of eight consecutive season-opening losses.
But as coach Chris Casey points out, a lot has to go right for the Schaan-Johnson connection to be effective.
“You can look at individual stats, and Leon setting records and all that stuff, but like they said, it begins and ends with the team,” Casey said. “The offensive coordinator has to make the right calls at the right time. The offensive line has to protect the quarterback. The receivers have to run the right routes. And Haiden has to be great with his timing and accuracy. All of those things have to come together for Leon, and we’ll bet on Leon any time (to make a play).”
This was a game that could have gone the other way.
Less than 10 minutes into the action on a nearly 100 degree night in California, the Bruins found themselves in a 14-0 hole and seemingly destined for defeat.
Keep in mind that George Fox hadn’t beaten Redlands since 2016. It was setting up to be one of those ‘here we go again’ moments.
The confidence of the Bruins, however, never wavered.
“The 14-0 start was pretty rough for us,” Johnson said. “But our defense never gave up on their confidence and that gave us as an offense confidence. Everyone got hyped after they got that first stop. It was awesome to see us come together as a team and get this win.”
Schaan said he always believed the Bruins would find a way.
“Even as we got down early, I had the utmost confidence in our team,” Schaan said. “The way we had been playing in camp and scrimmages, I just had trust and confidence in our guys that we’d be able to perform and get it going. We got back to playing the way we are capable of even after we fell behind.”
George Fox and Redlands were tied on three occasions, the last at 31-31, before the Bruins took the lead for good on Schaan’s 78-yard scoring strike to Johnson with just under four minutes to play.
Casey said his team showed a lot about itself in the hard-fought win.
“It was a great college football game for fans, but tough on coaches,” Casey said. “I think the big thing is our guys persevered. We got clobbered early on, knocked in the mouth, but our guys stuck together. When things aren’t going well, you find answers, not excuses, and you overcome adversity.”
Casey called the win a total team effort and pointed to the veteran players for paving the way.
“You could see it on the field. They remained confident,” Casey said. “They believed in what they were doing. Nobody flinched. Nobody panicked.”
Winning a big game out of the gate is a big deal for a team hoping to build on its 6-3 campaign of a year ago. The Bruins were 6-1 in the league, their only loss coming against Linfield, which is currently ranked seventh in the nation.
“It boosts our confidence tremendously,” Schaan said. “You can feel a shift in the expectations and what we are capable of doing. We’ve had slow starts before and know what it’s like to battle back, and to have won that battle, it really fires us up.”
The road doesn’t get any easier as the three non-league opponents George Fox has on the slate to open the season combined to go 22-8 last year.
“We play a difficult non-league schedule on purpose, and we love the challenge of it,” Casey said. “There is a great vibe on the team. Confidence is an attitude, and everything begins with attitude.”
A trip to Texas is next to take on Howard Payne. The Bruins understand that while it’s good to be confident, it’s not the time to be complacent.
“We have to keep doing our best and keep playing like we are capable of playing. We don’t want the win to go to our head,” Johnson said. “It’s a good win, but we have to keep playing at a high level.”
