Minster Rolls Over Fort Loramie, 28-0

By Bruce Monnin

FORT LORAMIE — The last game the Fort Loramie Redskins played last season, they were knocked out of the playoffs by the Minster Wildcats, 30-7. It is a new season, but the final result was the same, as Minster rolled to a 28-0 victory.

The Wildcats wasted no time getting started as Jay Eilerman returned the opening kickoff 54 yards to the Redskin 33-yard line. Five plays later, Adam Niemeyer completed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Devon Poeppelman for the early 7-0 lead.

On their next possession, Minster took a little longer, but still reached the end zone. This eleven-play drive was completed as Troy Kaufman received a backwards pass and then surprised the Fort Loramie defense by launching a 25-yard touchdown pass to Poeppelman. The Wildcats looked to be rolling with a 14-0 first quarter lead.

The rest of the first half consisted of missed opportunities. Fort Loramie reached the Minster 31-yard line in their ensuing series but could advance no farther. When the Wildcats reclaimed the ball, they crossed the goal line twice in the following series, but both scores were called back. In fact, Minster racked up 59 penalty yards in the series, at one point facing a second down with 55 yards to go.

“We’re not worried about penalties if they are playing hard, and I thought the kids were playing hard. Was I happy to have 2nd down and 55?” remarked Minster coach Nate Moore. “Of course not. Sometimes you have to live with some of that.”

Fort Loramie returned the resulting punt to the Minster six-yard line for their most serious scoring threat of the night. But on fourth down from the Minster one yard line, the Wildcat defense rose up and held Redskin back Delaunte Thornton to no gain, thus preserving the shutout. The Minster defense held Fort Loramie to just 35 total yards in the first half.

Just for good measure, Poeppelman intercepted a Redskin pass as time expired in the half. He threaded his way 83 yards for the apparent back breaking touchdown, but this score was also called back due to a Minster penalty.

The second half belonged to the Wildcats. They moved the ball 95 yards in nine plays for their third score, which came on a 19-yard pass from Niemeyer to Eilerman. Minster only needed three plays to go the needed 71 yards for their final touchdown. First was an 11-yard run by Niemeyer, followed by a 20-yard run by Korey Schultz and a 40 yard touchdown jaunt by Eli Wolf.

Niemeyer had an efficient night passing the ball, completing 13 of 16 attempts for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Schultz was the workhorse on the ground, toting the pigskin 20 times for 86 yards.

Both teams came into the game rated as favorites to return to the region 24 playoffs this year, so Moore was very pleased with the result. “I am proud of how we played against a returning playoff team. We came out with a job to do and we got the job done.”

Next week Friday Minster hosts 0-1 Sidney Lehman while Fort Loramie will be traveling to play the 0-1 New Bremen Cardinals.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 14 0 14 0 28

Fort Loramie 0 0 0 0 0