By Duane Bachman
MINSTER – A grim
band of Minster Wildcats staved off two Piqua drives in the first half and
another in waning moments of the second and sandwiched three touchdowns of
their own between the Piqua drives, to beat the Cavaliers 19-6 here last
Friday.
The Wildcats too
the opening kickoff to their own 20, and after a 15-yard penalty fumbled with
Piqua recovering. Piqua advanced the
ball to the three-yard line on a trio of plays, but the Minster defense held on
the three.
Remaining minutes
of the first quarter saw both offenses stalled, with Frericks
and Couchot engaging in a punting duel.
Early in the second
stanza the Cavaliers, with Couchot bearing the brunt
of the Piqua offense, recovered a Minster fumble on the Wildcat 41, but on the
next play Piqua fumbled and Hegemann fell on the
pigskin for the Wildcats.
On the initial play
Gudorf picked up three yards, but Frericks
lost a yard on an option play. With third
down and eight yards for the first down, Frericks
faked beautifully to the fullback and handed off to Gudorf
who picked up a key block from Prenger and scampered
for 20 yards.
Gudorf, playing well at halfback, slanted off tackle and advanced the ball to the
three-yard line, with four minutes left in the half. On the next play he took the ball to the one
where Frericks sneaked over for the touchdown. Pass for the extra point was incomplete and
Minster led, 6-0.
After Piqua took
the ball to its own 30 Couchot picked up four yards
and Jim Kuhn scooted around end to put the oval on the Minster 48. An off-tackle smash by Obringer netted two
yards and a short pass put the ball on the 45.
With time running out, Jim Kuhn hit Knob with a long pass on the Minster
four. A line thrust by Couchot took the ball to the two. A pass was incomplete. Then Couchot, who
played an outstanding game for Piqua, carried to the half-foot line as the gun
sounded ending the half with Minster leading 6-0.
Piqua took the
second-half kickoff and returned it to its own 30. On the second play Jim Kuhn passed but Ted Frericks picked the ball off outstretched fingers of Bill
Kuhn and raced off for a touchdown. Baumer’s kick split the uprights and Minster led 13-0.
Minster kicked and the
Cavaliers returned to their 40. Four
plunges through the middle netted Piqua a first down
at the mid-field stripe, but at this point the Wildcat defense tightened and
forced the Cavaliers to punt.
Minster took over
on its 27, and after a plunge through the center failed to help, Frericks tried a sneak.
A personal foul on Piqua spotted the ball to the Piqua 46. On second down, Frericks
picked up a key block from Jim Cull and scampered to the Piqua 25-yard
line. A clipping penalty against Piqua
advanced the oval to the ten. A thrust
by Gudorf gained seven. On the next play, Frericks
recovered his own fumble. On third down Frericks hit Jay Hogenkamp in the
right flat for a touchdown. Try for the
extra point was wide. The score: 19-0.
There was no
further scoring in the third quarter, but Couchot
intercepted a Minster pass on his own 20 and raced to the Minster 37 before he
was pulled down from behind. With Piqua
smelling paydirt, Kuhn scooted around end for 22 yards, then off tackle for
five precious yards. Three
line smashes gained two and on fourth down Kuhn hit Couchot
for a touchdown, climaxing a 63-yard drive.
The extra point was unsuccessful, and Minster led 19-6.
The Wildcats took
the onside kick on their own 32. On the
first play Overman fumbled and Piqua recovered.
Couchot hit the middle for seven, and after
and after a touchdown jaunt of 28 yards was nullified by a Piqua penalty, Kuhn hit
his fullback with a pass on the 12. The
Piqua offense used a pass and line buck to advance to the one-yard line, but
time ran out on the Cavaliers and the final score read Minster 19, Piqua 6.
The Wildcats were
impressive, especially the defensive forward wall. They staved off three possible touchdowns
which could have spelled defeat.
The offense was led
by Ken Gudorf, who set up the first touchdown with
two beautiful runs, and Ted Frericks, who did a
better than average job in the faking, passing and
kicking departments.
Dave Wetzel and
John Bitler watched the game from the sidelines, but
both are expected to be in the lineup shortly.
Scoring by quarters:
Minster 0 6 13 0 — 19
Piqua Catholic 0 0 0 6 — 6
Team
statistics MIN PC
First
downs 7 10
Rushing
yards 130 149
Passing
yards 28 70
Comp
- att - int 3-8-1 5-16-1
Penalty
yards 40 72