Minster Wins Wild Game Over Parkway, 20-12

By Bruce Monnin

ROCKFORD — Friday night’s game between the Parkway Panthers and the Minster Wildcats will not go down in the books as one of the best games ever played, but it was definitely a close and entertaining game. Minster used an early third quarter offensive explosion to come from behind and then hold off Parkway by a final score of 20-12.

The Wildcats got off to a fast start. Jordan Thompson started his first game at quarterback for the Panthers and went deep on his first play, only to be intercepted by Zac Boeke, the first of two swipes by Boeke on the night. Minster then followed with a drive capped off by a 20-yard Michael McVety touchdown run for the early 6-0 lead. Little did Minster know that though their offense put up 63 yards on the drive, they would only gain another 10 yards the entire first half.

Thanks to tough defense and 60 yards in first half Wildcat penalties, Parkway was able to keep most of the rest of the half played in Wildcat territory, but had trouble denting the scoreboard. Early in the second quarter, a Thompson punt had Minster starting on their own five-yard line. The Panther defense forced a loss of two yards on the next play and then trapped Andrew Meyer in the end zone on the following play to make the baseball-like score of 6-2.

Parkway kept Minster bottled up in their own end and drove towards the Minster goal line again late in the quarter. This time Thompson hit Mark Snyder for a 14-yard touchdown pass to take a 9-6 lead into halftime and bring the Panther faithful to their feet.

“One of the reasons we couldn’t do much was we didn’t have any field position in the first half,” explained Minster coach Whit Parks. “We just got ourselves in a hole and most of that was caused by our own penalties.”

The Panther fans remained in high spirits through halftime, as they again rose to their feet while the Minster and Parkway bands combined for a rousing joint rendition of Hang On Sloopy, accompanied by the Parkway band’s own Elvis Presley impersonator.

Meanwhile, back in the locker room, Parks was attempting to get his team fired up. “We challenged our kids really hard at halftime,” stated Parks, “and I thought they played inspired in the second half.”

The Wildcats received the second half kickoff and went 18 yards in eight plays. Then the Wildcats went deep, with Aaron Heitbrink hitting Troy Parks perfectly in stride for a 54-yard touchdown to put Minster in the lead to stay.

After Parkway was forced to punt after three plays, the Wildcat offense went back into high gear. Another perfectly in stride pass from Heitbrink to Boeke for 32 yards brought Minster deep into Panther territory, and two plays later Andrew Meyer rumbled for an eight-yard touchdown to make the lead 20-9.

Parkway immediately responded with Dallas Agner returning the kickoff 65 yards to the Minster 33-yard line. Another 21-yard pass from Thompson to Snyder set up a Spencer Burden 27-yard field goal to close the deficit to 20-12.

The Panthers has several chances to drive for the tying score in the fourth quarter, but various mistakes held them back. Four penalties for 45 yards in the quarter kept putting the offense in difficult situations. One drive ended on Boeke’s second interception on the night. One final attempt ended when on a crucial fourth down and five play from midfield, Thompson was pressured by John Steineman and forced to throw an incomplete pass which allowed Minster to hang on for the victory. A look into the Parkway band section not long after that showed that Elvis (or a reasonable impression thereof) had indeed left the stadium.

“It was just a couple of little things, a couple of mental mistakes we had,” lamented Parkway coach Jason Henline, “but our seniors really came to play tonight.”

Minster ends the season seeking to even their record at 5-5 as they travel to Sidney to take on 3-6 Sidney Lehman. Parkway finishes up by traveling to Versailles to take on the perennial state championship contenders, who are 8-1 on the season.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Minster 6 0 14 0 — 20

Parkway 0 9 0 3 — 12