Minster Loses Close Game to Delphos St. Johns 35-26

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER  —  Coming into Friday night’s contest, the Minster Wildcats had lost eleven straight games to the Delphos St. Johns Blue Jays, with many of the recent contests being very close games.  History repeated itself, as the Wildcats started out fast but were overpowered by St. Johns late in a 35-26 Blue Jay victory.

Just as in their last two games, Minster was haunted by the specter of missed opportunities as they drove into St. Johns’ territory seven times in the first three quarters but came away with points only twice.

St. Johns gave Minster an early break when they fumbled the opening kickoff and Bryan Phlipot recovered on the Blue Jay 23-yard line. Five plays later, Minster was at the five-yard line when they returned the favor, as St. Johns’ Trent Kroeger scooped up a loose ball and galloped 95 yards to paydirt.

“I said coming into the game we just need to get some points in the first quarter, I don’t care how they come,” stated Delphos coach Todd Schulte, who said the team had worked on that fumble recovery play. “The first guy tries to scoop it and the second guy falls on it if it is still laying there,” explained Schulte. “We worked hard on that in two-a-days, so it was nice to see that come to fruition. We needed those seven points.”

The Wildcats worked their way back into Blue Jay territory late in the opening stanza, mostly using the rushing game to get to the Delphos 27-yard line. On fourth down and four to go, Brian Mueller unleashed a strike to Phlipot for the game tying touchdown.

Early in the second quarter the Wildcats had another opportunity, driving for 13 plays until they had a first down and goal to go at the Blue Jay 3-yard line. After having the run stuffed twice, the Blue Jays sacked Mueller for a 12-yard loss. This time the fourth down attempt was unsuccessful, and the game remained tied.

St. Johns immediately fumbled the ball back to the Wildcats, and they immediately capitalized as Brian Mueller ran four yards to the corner to give Minster a 14-7 lead at the half.

Something changed at halftime as Delphos began to control the line of scrimmage and run the ball effectively. On their first series Tony Reindel scored on a 10-yard run while on their second series it was Blake Williams reaching paydirt as St. Johns grabbed a 21-14 lead after three quarters.

“At halftime we decided to bring in two tight ends and try to power inside and the kids responded well,” explained Schulte. “We’re not used to being in this situation where we’re searching for a win in week four, so I very proud they responded the way they did in the second half.”

The Blue Jays widened the lead to 28-14 at the start of the fourth quarter as Reindel caught a screen pass from Ulm and rumbled 54 yards for the score. The Wildcats did not give up, as they used the passing game to work their way downfield and score on a 1-yard pass from Mueller to Philpot to narrow the margin to 28-20.

But St. Johns would now allow Minster any closer. They needed only three running plays their next series, 13 yards from Ulm, 39 yards from Reindel and another eight yards from Ulm to tally their final touchdown. Minster added a late 32-yard touchdown pass from Mueller to Keith Nerderman to account for the final 35-26 score.

Next week Delphos takes their 1-3 record back home to face 1-3 Versailles. 0-4 Minster hits the road to visit the top ranked team in division five, the 4-0 Marion Local Flyers.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Delphos St. Johns   7 0   14    14    — 35

Minster                   7    7    0     12     —     26