Minster 35 — Parkway 15

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — Two touchdowns before a minute ticked off the clock gave Minster the spark it needed to pull away and beat Parkway 35-15 in the home finale for the Wildcats at Memorial Field on Friday.

Minster goes to 5-4 (5-2 Midwest Athletic Conference) on the season and posts its first five-game winning streak since 1996. Parkway drops to 2-7 overall (1-6 MAC).

First-year Wildcat coach Nate Moore put the credit of the team’s turnaround — from 0-4 to 5-4 and in the playoff hunt — on the seniors.

“I can’t say enough about this group of seniors,” said Moore. “From day one, they’ve done everything I’ve asked them to do. Everything the coaches ask them to do, they’ve come through. Those first four games we played, the amount of adversity we overcame to be where we are right now, all that credit goes to the seniors. We wouldn’t be here without them.”

It took just two plays for Minster to get started offensively. Adam Kaiser scooted free for a 54-yard scoring run just 18 seconds into the game to make it 7-0.

On Parkway’s first play from scrimmage, the ball was fumbled, with Wildcat lineman Evan Eshelman snagging the ball on the Parkway 26. Four plays later, Chase Paxson hooked up with Derek Collins for a 20-yard score to make it 14-0 with just 54 seconds elapsed off the clock.

“Offense came out playing solid football,” said Moore. “We were able to run the ball at them. We had some play-action passes, things to throw the ball downfield, too. For a sizable amount of the ballgame, we were clicking.”

The Wildcat defense kept the Panthers scoreless through three quarters, forcing Parkway quarterback Riley Bransteter into throwing three interceptions. Devon Poeppelman, Austin Knapke and Zach Hoelscher each recorded picks for the Wildcats.

Minster added to its lead with touchdown runs by Paxson in the second quarter and by Hoelscher in the third quarter.

Parkway finally got on the board in the fourth quarter, first with Joel Cesar running in from 10 yards out and then later when Bransteter broke free for a 94-yard touchdown.

“Similar to the offense, for a lot of the game, we did play well on defense,” said Moore. “There’s some things we need to shore up. That long run at the end of the fourth quarter (Bransteter’s TD run), that just flat out can’t happen. We have to watch the film and evaluate and get better on defense.”

Kaiser wrapped up the scoring for Minster with less than a minute to go in the game with an eight-yard run for his second score. Kaiser finished the game with 152 yards on 21 carries. Paxson, who set the single season passing record last week against Versailles, threw for 157 yards and ran for 72 yards.

Bransteter tallied 171 yards for Parkway.

Minster heads to Coldwater next Friday for a big battle with the Cavaliers while Parkway hosts Anna in the regular-season finale.

Score by quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Minster	14	7	7	7	35
Parkway	0	0	0	15	15