Horstman Paces Wildcats to Victory over Ansonia

 

By Don Bachman

 

A large Dad’s Night crowd braved the mud and rain to watch Minster grind out a 36-18 win over Ansonia’s Tigers here Friday night in a Tri-County league game.

 

The Wildcats took the kickoff and moved to the Ansonia 45 before a 15-yard penalty forced them to punt.  Johnny Horstman’s kick rolled out on the 22.

 

It looked like a gloomy night for the locals when Dwight Brewer shot through the middle of the line on the first play and ran 78 yards for a touchdown.  The extra point attempt by Harmon was wide.

 

Jim Brandewie fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Ansonia recovered on the Minster 47.  A pass from Francis Dicky to Young was complete to the 24 before an offside and a holding penalty halted the advance with Young punting to the Minster 22.

 

A 55 yard off tackle jaunt by Horstman gave the Wildcats their first scoring chance as the first quarter ended.  Rolly Hausfeld moved to the five and Jon Hogenkamp bolted over right tackle to score.  Hogenkamp plunged for the point and Minster led 7-6.

 

A short punt by Young to the Ansonia 44 started the Orange and Black on their way to another score.  With Horstman carrying on four of six plays Minster moved to the three from where Hogenkamp blasted through the middle.  Hausfeld plunged for the point.

 

Virgil Bergman set up the Maltinskymen’s third tally by blocking an Ansonia punt on the visitors’ 24.  Teddy Frericks went to the 21, Hogenkamp to the 15 and Horstman cracked over from the eight two plays later.  Horstman also drove for the point to put Minster in front 21-6.

 

Dean Bankson sped 63 yards on a double reverse to give the Tigers another six points and cut the lead to 21-12 as a plunge for the point was short.

 

On the next series of plays, with Horstman and Hogenkamp running wild, the locals moved to the Ansonia one.  A five yard penalty nullified Frericks’ touchdown run and put the pigskin on the six.  Frericks moved to the four but another offside penalty pushed the Orange and Black to the 11.  Minster moved to the four but Hogenkamp was stopped on fourth down on the Ansonia three.

 

Two plays advanced the ball to the six before Jim Brown tackled Bob Pence in the end zone for a safety that made it 23-12.  Short passes to Mike Connaughton and Tom Oldiges set the stage for Horstman’s 16-yard touchdown jog midway through the final quarter.  Winner’s kick made it 30-12.

 

A 23-yard run by Pence and a 15 yard penalty on the Cats gave the Tigers their final tally with Dicky going over from the eight.  A pass for the point was incomplete.

 

Minster scored again with about 30 seconds left in the contest.  After a 15-yard penalty moved the ballto the Ansonia 16 Frericks passed to Connaughton in the end zone but the ball was tipped into the air only to be caught by Tom Oldiges for the score.  The extra point attempt by Ron Lusk was wide.

 

Horstman was the offensive star of the game as he scored two touchdowns, one extra point and set up two other scores with runs of 55 and 29 yards.  The squat senior halfback carried the ball 19 times for 192 yards and an average of 10.1 yards per carry.  Horstman personally outgained the entire Ansonia offense on the ground, as the visitors managed only 164 yards rushing.

 

Team statistics             MIN      ANS

First downs                   21         8

Rushing yards               351       164

Passing yards               48         101

Comp - att - int              4-9-2     5-18-1

Total yards                    399       265

Punts - average             1-31.0   3-15.7

Fumbles - lost               1-1        0-0

Penalty yards                61         95

 

Scoring by quarters:

Minster                         0     14     7     15          36

Ansonia                        6      0      6      6           18