Fort Loramie Spoils Debut of Minster Coach Stokes, 21-18

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — Sometimes the first game of the season can feature some sloppy play. Mix in it being the first game for a new coach and sometimes it can even get a little ugly. That may best describe what happened as the Fort Loramie Redskins spoiled the debut game of new Minster Wildcat coach Geron Stokes. With just 15 seconds remaining in the game, Delaunte Thornton reached paydirt on a fourth-down play from the one-yard line to claim the 21-18 victory.

The game featured four turnovers by each team. Minster scored on both a kickoff return and an interception return, but also failed to convert all three of their points after touchdowns, in what would prove to be the margin for the game.

The Wildcats wasted no time getting started as Fort Loramie attempted to loop the opening kickoff short of the Minster return men. The kick slid off the side of the kicker’s foot and traveled just past midfield, where Jacob Dues picked it up and ran past the stunned Redskin defenders for a 51-yard touchdown. The failed extra point kick left the Wildcats ahead 6-0 just seven seconds into the game.

On their ensuing kickoff, Minster intentionally tried an onside kick, which Fort Loramie recovered. Six plays and five runs by star running back Delaunte Thornton later, the Redskins scored on a three-yard Thornton run and took a 7-6 lead.

“I was proud of the way the kids responded all game, every time we faced adversity,” remarked Fort Loramie coach Matt Burgbacher. “They had many chances to give up, and they never did.”

The rest of the first quarter was quite ugly, as twice the Wildcats turned the ball over in their own territory, only to have the Redskins almost immediately return the favor. Fort Loramie worked their way across midfield again early in the second quarter, but this time Redskin quarterback Tyler Kazmaiar completed a 23-yard pass to Craig Fullenkamp on third down and 15 to keep the drive alive, then the pair hooked up for a 20-yard touchdown to make the halftime score 14-6.

The Minster defense came out of the halftime locker room with a noticeable increase in their energy level. After stuffing Fort Loramie the first time they had the ball, Eli Wolf picked off their first throw of their next possession and returned it 19 yards to make the deficit 14-12. A failed two-point conversion attempt prevented the Wildcats from evening the score.

Fort Loramie drove deep into Minster territory late in the third quarter, but the Wildcat defense rose up again and stopped the Redskins on a fourth-down play from the 12-yard line. A 40-yard completion from Josh Nixon to A.J. Huelsman then changed the field position in Minster’s favor. Sam Dues later finished off the nine-play touchdown drive with a one-yard score to give the Wildcats the lead, 18-14, with 11:56 remaining in the game.

Fort Loramie responded once again. The Redskins drove all the way to the Minster three-yard line, but the Wildcat defense again held when it was most needed. This time Fort Loramie was stopped one yard short on a fourth-down play with two yards needed to earn the first down.

The Minster offense could not move the ball, however, and a bad snap led to punter Ethan Wolf throwing an interception. The Redskins took over the ball at the Minster 38-yard line with 2:20 remaining. In three plays they reached the Wildcat two-yard line, where they were stopped twice in a row, setting up the decisive fourth-down play from the one-yard line. Thornton’s touchdown run gave Fort Loramie their final 21-18 margin.

Minster had one last chance, as a 28-yard pass from Nixon to Eli Wolf put the ball at the Redskin 35-yard line with five seconds remaining. The Hail Mary attempt was unsuccessful, setting off a wild celebration on the Fort Loramie sidelines.

Both teams’ running backs broke the 100-yard mark on the night, as Thornton ran 24 times for 111 yards while Dues toted the pigskin 20 times for 101 yards for the Wildcats.

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

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Fort Loramie 7 7 0 7 21

Minster 6 0 6 6 18

First Quarter:

MIN – Jacob Dues 51 yd kick return (kick failed), 11:53

FL – Delaunte Thornton 3 yd run (Tristan Stripling kick), 10:34

Second Quarter:

FL – Craig Fullenkamp 20 yd pass from Tyler Kazmaier (Tristan Stripling kick), 7:30

Third Quarter:

MIN – Eli Wolf 19 yd interception return, 6:47

Fourth Quarter:

MIN – Sam Dues 1 yd run, 11:56

FL – Delaunte Thornton 1 yd run (Tristan Stripling kick), 0:15

Team statistics FL MIN

First downs 15 12

Rushes - yards 44-143 41-134

Passing yards 140 89

Comp - att - int 14-25-3 6-17-2

Total yards 283 223

Return yards 68 74

Punts - average 5-47.4 6-32.0

Fumbles - lost 1-1 3-2

Penalties - yards 5-60 3-35

Time of possession 24:19 23:41

First downs 15 12

Individual statistics

Rushing: Fort Loramie, Thornton 24-111, McGee 10-31, Fullenkamp 1-6, Benanzer 2-0, Kazmaier 7-(minus 5); Minster, Sam Dues 23-101, Eli Wolf 1-21, Stechschulte 7-21, Nixon 10-(minus 9)

Passing: Fort Loramie, Kazmaier 14-24-2-140, McGee 0-1-1-0; Minster, Nixon 6-16-1-89, Ethan Wolf 0-1-1-0

Receiving: Fort Loramie, Benanzer 5-43, Fullenkamp 4-70, McGee 4-38, Meyer 1-(minus 11); Minster, Huelsman 3-58, Eli Wolf 3-31