Minster Defense Keys Win Over Fort Loramie, 23-6

By Bruce Monnin

FORT LORAMIE — It was the first game in the coaching career of Minster head man Eric Belcher, but you couldn’t tell if he was suffering with his nerves or not. The Minster offense did appear to be having first game jitters, fumbling the ball four times and losing two of them in the first half. But the Wildcat defense looked sure and solid, holding Fort Loramie to just 35 yards before the Redskins last drive against the second string, and leading Minster to a 23-6 opening night victory.

“Andrew Meyer did a heck of a job running our defense tonight,” declared currently undefeated coach Belcher. “The entire defense did a great job.”

The Minster offense looked good on their opening drive, compiling 53 yards to get deep in Fort Loramie territory. However, they were stopped on a fourth down and three play and came away with no points.

Minster capitalized on their next series, scoring on a 13-yard run by Aaron Heitbrink to take the early 7-0 lead. Though they threatened several other times in the half, the Wildcats could only add a 24-yard Dan Mueller field goal to lead 10-0 at the intermission.

Minster looked more energetic in the second half, scoring on their first two drives. Jonathan Borges scored first on a 25-yard touchdown gallop, then followed with a 26-yard scoring run to end the second series.

That was the last scoring of the game until Fort Loramie put together a 99-yard drive near the end of the game, capped by a 26-yard touchdown pass from Jay Schultze to receiver Kyle Gasson.

Minster dominated on the ground, compiling 333 rushing yards to just 46 for Fort Loramie. “That’s what the wishbone is all about, the running game,” stated Belcher. “We can throw the ball if we want to, but we wanted to develop our power game.”

Next week Friday Minster travels to Versailles to take on the 1-0 Versailles Tigers. Fort Loramie hosts Ben Logan in its next attempt to achieve its first victory of the year.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Minster 7 3 13 0 — 23

Fort Loramie 0 0 0 6 — 6