Fort Recovery Defeats
Minster 13-6 in Game of Missed Opportunities
by
Bruce Monnin
MINSTER — Before the game even started, the Minster
Wildcats were penalized
The game started with Fort Recovery driving into
the heart of Minster territory, reaching the Wildcat 22-yard line. The Wildcat defense stiffened and stopped the
Indians cold on a fourth down run to set the tone for the evening.
On Fort Recovery’s next drive, a 41-yard pass
from Greg Kahlig to Craig Tobe
brought to ball deep into Minster territory.
This time they capitalized, as Brian Keller scored on a four-yard run to
give the Indians an early 6-0 lead.
The Wildcats responded with a twleve play drive of their own, reaching the Fort Recovery five-yard
line. The Indian defense stopped a
fourth down running play for no gain to regain possession of the ball, the
first of several such stops by the Fort Recovery defense on the night.
Minster reached Fort Recovery two more times in
the first half without denting the endzone.
They received a break with less than a minute left in the half when a
poor snap led to an Indian punt being blocked.
The Wildcats took over on the Fort Recovery 12-yard line and scored on
their first play, a scamper into the endzone by quarterback Adam Niemeyer which
tied the score 6-6 at the half.
Fort Recovery had the first opportunity of the
second half when Minster fumbled the kickoff and the Indians recovered at the
Wildcat 40-yard line. Fort Recovery had
a first and goal at the Minster 6-yard line, but this time the Wildcat defense
stiffened and pushed the Indians back five yards on the next four plays.
Minster used their greatest weapon on the
night, punter Austin Baumer, to regain field
position. Baumer,
who averaged almost
Minster immediately went for the big play, as
Niemeyer hit Derek Collins with a 43-yard touchdown catch. But a holding penalty wiped out the score and
took the air out of the Wildcat offense for the drive.
Late in the third quarter, Fort Recovery tried a
different style on offense. Starting at
their own 13-yard line, they used short passes to highlight a 16-play scoring
drive that was capped off with a four-yard Kahlig
touchdown run. Mark Mattraw’s
extra point made the lead 13-6. Kahlig completed nine out of thirteen passes on the drive,
connecting with four different receivers.
“They were playing hard man, so we thought the
deep routes would be open, but we couldn’t hit them,” explained Fort Recovery coach
Brett Niekamp. “When we got the short
stuff going, that settled us down.”
Minster responded with its best drive of the
night. Starting at their own 28-yard
line with 9:15 left in the game, the Wildcats used 12 plays, seven of them runs
by Scott Borges, to reach the Fort Recovery two-yard line with two minutes to
go. The Indian defense responded by
stopping Borges for a three-yard loss on third down, then on a fourth and goal
from the five they tackled Borges at the four after he caught a short pass.
“That was a great stop by our defense,” complimented
Niekamp. “We worked hard and challenged
the defense to play well, and they played great.”
With the game seemingly in hand, Kahlig went under center for the first time all night. After running for two yards on a keeper play,
the ball was knocked loose, and Minster recovered on the six-yard line with
1:37 remaining in the game.
The Indian defense was challenged one last
time, and again they responded. On
Minster’s first play they stripped the ball from the running back and recovered
the fumble to seal the victory.
The win pushes Fort Recovery’s record to
2-2. Next week the Indians try to push
their record above .500 as they host the 0-4 Parkway Panthers. 1-3 Minster also stays at home next week, as they
host the 1-3 New Bremen Cardinals.
SCORE
BY QUARTERS
Fort
Recovery 6 0 0 7 — 13
Minster 0 6 0 0 — 6