St. Henry Outlasts
Minster, 21-13
By
Bruce Monnin
ST. HENRY — It
was a like a first round playoff game in St. Henry as the Redskins tried to
keep alive their slim playoff hopes while the Minster Wildcats to earn a
playoff berth win a win. Both teams
played tight, turnover free football, with St. Henry scoring a fourth quarter
touchdown to pull away with a 21-13 victory.
St. Henry controlled the rushing portion of the
game, racking up
“I thought we had a good week of preparation,”
commented St. Henry coach Jeff Starkey on his team. “We had a little fun in practice.” Starkey was also happy with his team’s
consistent effort and lack of turnovers throughout the game. “We played two halves of football. We hadn’t done that
in quite a while. When you don’t turn the ball over in a game of this type, you always
have a chance.”
Minster struck first on their opening
drive. Mixing an equal amount of running
and passing, the Wildcats marching into Redskin territory and converted a
critical fourth down and three play at the St. Henry 37-yard line. Four plays later quarterback Chase Paxson
threw the high lob into the corner of the end zone where Jack Griner outjumped
the defender to haul in the score.
Minster threatened again early in the second
quarter when a completion deep in Redskin territory was taken away by an
offensive pass interference penalty. The
drive stalled, and St. Henry took advantage of the opportunity when a
combination of a 33-yard Brent Prenger run and a
15-yard Minster personal foul penalty on the same play took them into Wildcat territory. Brad Stahl hooked up with Jordan Post for a
29-yard completion on the next play then an eight-yard touchdown pass to Zach Fishbaugh to tie the score at 7-7.
St. Henry drove deep to the Minster 13-yard
line in their next possession but could advance no further against the Wildcat
defense. With less than a minute to go
in the half, the Redskins mounted another drive but only reached the Minster
26-yard line before time ran out in the half.
Just as Minster did in the first half, St.
Henry scored on their first possession of the second half. The drive took 13 plays and almost five
minutes and was capped off by a three-yard Prenger
run. The successful kick gave the
Redskins a 14-13 lead.
Minster answered with a ten-play scoring drive
of their own. It looked gloomy for
Minster when they faced fourth down and eleven just inside Redskin territory, but
Paxson again hooked up with Griner for a 27-yard completion for the first
down. Three plays later Ian Ranly bulled over the goal line for the touchdown. However, a bad snap caused the extra point to
try to fail, and St. Henry retained a 14-13 lead.
The Redskins had the final scoring drive of the
game early in the fourth quarter. The
St. Henry defense forced Minster to punt from their own end zone and the
offense started at the Wildcat 34-yard line.
Four straight runs by Prenger netted
Minster tried to respond. They used six of the remaining nine minutes
to drive to the St. Henry 38-yard line, but a sack and a running play thrown
for a loss push the Wildcats back and for the first time they failed on a
fourth down conversion attempt when a 17-yard pass play came up four yards
short of the first down. Minster had one
last chance with 32 seconds remaining in the game when they took over at their
own 16-yard line, but a Josh Schneider interception preserves the St. Henry
victory.
With the loss, Minster drops to 5-5 and look to
finished 9th or 10th in the region 24 standings, just out of the playoffs. St. Henry’s record improves to 6-4, but they
also look to fall just short of qualifying for the palyoffs.
SCORE BY QUARTERSSt. Henry 0 7 7 7 — 21
Minster 7 0 6 0 — 13