By Don Bachman
Ten senior members
of Minster’s high school football squad ended their high school careers with a
victory under their belts, but it took a two touchdown
effort by junior Jon Hogenkamp to put it there.
Hogenkamp scored from the two in the second quarter and from the 24 in the final
period to give the locals their victory margin.
Versailles’ Dick
Berger scored the lone Tiger touchdown as he returned a kickoff 77 yards
following Hogenkamp’s second tally.
With
the exception of Berger’s long romp, the Cats defensive
line smothered every Versailles offensive maneuver. Versailles advanced to the Minster 49 the first
time they got the ball, and that was the deepest penetration they made during
the game.
Minster moved
inside the Tigers’ 20-yard line on nine occasions but were able to score but
twice. Just when it appeared they were
on their way to paydirt, a fumble or poorly executed play halted the drive.
The Orange and
Black defense held Versailles to 60 yards running and 10 passing while Minster
gained 169 on the ground and 24 through the air.
The victory put the
Maltinskyman above the .500 mark with 4 wins, 3
losses and a tie. The only other Minster
team to finish with more wins than losses was the 1951eleven with a 6-1-1
record. The win also gave Minster second
place in the Tri-County League with a 3-1-1 mark.
Ten seniors who
took off their cleats for the last time Friday included co-captains Rol Hausfeld and Jim Brown, Tom Oldiges, Mike Connaughton, Gene Winner, Joe Bornhorst, Jim Brandewie, Dave
Rump. John Horstman and Bob Prenger.
The Wildcats moved
to the Versailles’ 20 the first time they had the pigskin but Horstman was
thrown for an 18-yard loss on an attempted pass to stop the advance. Versailles fumbled and John Seger recovered
on the Tiger 28. After Gudorf was dropped for an eight yard
loss on the first play Horstman and Hausfeld moved to
the 28 with fourth and ten. Hogenkamp then tosses a short pass to Connaughton who lateraled
to Horstman with the hard-driving halfback going to the Versailles 16 for a
first down.
Hausfeld carried the ball to the two on three tries and Hogenkamp
cracked over right tackle for the score.
Hogenkamp fumbled the pass from center on the
extra point attempt.
The locals pushed
to the Versailles’ nine late in the second period but Horstman lost eight yards
on two plays and the Tigers took over.
Minster drove to the
Versailles’ twelve early in the second half following a fumble recovery by Joe Bornhorst, only to have Hogenkamp
stopped on fourth down and one.
The Cats stalled
again on the Versailles’ 26 late in the third period and fumbled on the Tiger
six with five minutes left in the game.
After picking up a first down to the 26 the Darke county eleven threw
four incomplete passes and Minster took over with 46 seconds left. After Hausfeld
plunged to the 24, Hogenkamp stepped between center
and left guard, broke through the secondary and zipped into the end zone for
the score. The extra point attempt by
Ron Lusk was wide.
At this point Maltinsky jerked his starting team and Berger immediately
showed the reserves they needed a little more experience by running the kick
back 77 yards. Neargarder’s
kick made it 12-7 with six seconds left.
The Tigers were still very much in the ball game as they recovered a
Minster fumble on an onside kick with two seconds to go. An incomplete pass on the next play ended the
game.
Scoring by
quarters:
Minster 0 6
0 6 — 12
Versailles 0
0 0 7
— 7
Team
statistics MIN VER
First
downs 11 4
Rushing
yards 169 60
Passing
yards 24 10
Comp
- att - int 3-4-0 1-5-0
Punts
- average 1-38.0 5-28.0
Fumbles
- lost 4-3 4-3
Penalty
yards 12 15