Big First Half Plays
Key Minster 35-7 Victory over Fort Recovery
by
Bruce Monnin
FORT RECOVERY — The Minster Wildcats
earned their first win of the season last week and looked to carry over that
momentum on the road against the Fort Recovery Indians. The Wildcats dominated the statistics, but it
took two big plays in the first half to get Minster on the scoreboard. They used that momentum to control the second
half on the way to a 35-7 victory.
Minster was first to dent the scoreboard midway
through the first quarter. Starting with
the ball near midfield, the Wildcat drive started out on a sour note with an
illegal substitution penalty (five of Minster’s 106 penalty yards on the night). But on the very next play, quarterback Chase
Paxson took the ball around the end and went 59 yards for a touchdown.
Fort Recovery proceeded to threaten twice in
the half. Late in the first quarter the
Indians put together a 13-play drive which reached the Minster 13-yard
line. On 4th down and two to go, the
Wildcats defense stopped quarterback Kenny Wenning
inches short of a first down to end that threat.
Midway through the second quarter, Fort
Recovery again penetrated Wildcat territory, to the 30-yard line. This time, the drive ended with Devon Poeppelman intercepting a pass to end the Indian threat.
Despite ending the half with 260 yards to just
99 for Fort Recovery, it appeared Minster was going into intermission with just
a seven-point lead. With only 14 seconds
remaining in the half, Minster received an Indian punt at their own 30-yard
line. Chase Paxson completed a 27-yard
pass to Daniel Gushing to get the Wildcats 43 yards from the end zone. Then with three seconds remaining before
half, Paxson heaved the expected Hail Mary pass into the end zone. The ball passed just beyond the outstretched
fingers of several Fort Recovery defenders before falling into Gusching’s arms for the 14-0 halftime lead.
“That was a huge momentum shift going into the
half. It’s a play we practice, and the
kids flat out executed,” explained Minster coach Nate Moore. “You’d have thought we were up 28-0 by the
way the kids were reacting.”
Minster received the second half kickoff and
used nine plays to extend their lead to 21-0 as Paxson ran one yard for his
second touchdown of the night. The
Minster defense also came out from the locker room fired up, forcing a Fort
Recovery punt after just three plays.
“On defense we were flying to the ball and
tackling,” complimented Moore. “We’re
getting better every week.”
On the second possession of the half, the
Wildcats made a change at quarterback, bringing in sophomore Adam
Niemeyer. Niemeyer had competed for the
starting job in preseason but had not played all year due to a broken finger. He took advantage of his opportunity,
throwing deep on his first play for a 57-yard touchdown pass to Derek Collins.
Minster added a fifth and final touchdown late
in the third quarter, this time featuring the running of Zach Hoelscher on the drive.
On the tenth play, Hoelscher scored from three
yards out, and Devon Peoppelman added his fifth extra
point of the night to make the score 35-0.
The Indians put up their lone score of the
night when they recovered a Minster fumble at the Wildcat 11-yard line. Two plays late Jason Pottkotter
tossed a touchdown pass to Derek Gaerke for the final
35-7 score.
Minster dominated the offensive stats, gaining
468 yards to just 176 for the Indians, though Coach Moore was far from happy
with the elevan Wildcat penalties costing them 106
yards on the evening.
The win pushes Minster’s record to 2-4. Next week the Wildcats return home to host
the 2-
|
Score
by quarter |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Total |
|
Minster
|
7 |
7 |
21 |
0 |
35 |
|
Fort
Recovery |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
7 |