Minster Jumps on Parkway Early for 41-19 Win

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — A repeated point of emphasis for Minster coach Geron Stokes this season has been that his team needs to have a better start to their games. This week his team came through, scoring the first 27 points of the game on their way to a 41-19 Homecoming win over the Parkway Panthers.

“Credit our seniors,” stated Stokes. “Our seniors were demanding that the team be focused coming out at the start of the game.”

The Wildcat defense certainly started the game focused, as they did not yield a single yard on Parkway’s opening possession. The Minster offense followed their example, scoring on their first play as Sam Dues toted the pigskin 54 yards for a touchdown.

Minster went to the air for their next three scores. The first was a 65-yard strike over the middle from quarterback Josh Nixon to Jacob Dues near the end of the first quarter. The second quarter saw fifteen yard and five-yard scoring throws to Eli Wolf to give the Wildcats a 27-0 lead.

The Panthers had two first half drives thwarted by Eli Wolf and Jacob Dues interceptions. Near the end of the half, Parkway was able to avoid the turnover and finished off a scoring drive with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Justin Barna to Brent Barna, making the score 27-6 at the break.

Minster put the game away early in the third quarter. The Wildcats received the kickoff and used eleven plays to score on a four-yard pass from Nixon to Ethan Wolf. A poor shotgun snap returned the ball to Minster on the Panthers first play, and three plays later Jacob Stechschulte scored on a twelve-yard run for the final Wildcat points of the night.

Parkway produced two long scoring plays in the fourth quarter to make the final score 41-19. The first was a 40-yard touchdown run by Kris Gangwer, followed by a 78-yard scoring pass from Justin Barna to Caleb Heindel.

Minster took great advantage by forcing four turnovers while committing none of their own. “We preach not turning the ball over,” added Stokes. “We will take pride in having no turnovers.”

4-3 Minster (4-1 in the MAC) heads west to face 3-4 Fort Recovery next Friday. 3-4 Parkway (2-3 in the MAC) returns home to face 1-6 St. Henry.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 14 13 14 0 41

Parkway 0 6 0 13 19

First Quarter:

MIN – Sam Dues 54 yd run (Jason Schultz kick), 10:13

MIN – Jacob Dues 65 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 1:34

Second Quarter:

MIN – Eli Wolf 15 yd from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 10:43

MIN – Eli Wolf 5 yd pass from Josh Nixon (kick failed), 6:36

PW – Brant Barna 25 yd pass from Justin Barna (kick failed), 0:50

Third Quarter:

MIN – Ethan Wolf 4 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 6:53

MIN – Jacob Stechschulte 12 yd run (Jason Schultz kick), 5:15

Fourth Quarter:

PW – Kris Gangwer 40 yd run (Ryan Lautzenheiser kick), 8:01

PW – Caleb Heindel 78 yd pass from Justin Barna (kick failed), 4:25

Team statistics PW MIN

First downs 12 20

Rushes - yards 21-124 40-240

Passing yards 221 212

Comp - att - int 10-26-3 15-26-0

Total yards 345 452

Return yards 103 79

Punts - average 5-31.2 4-29.5

Fumbles - lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties - yards 4-25 4-20

Time of possession 17:44 30:16

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, S Dues 13-134, Stechschulte 10-56, E Huelsman 14-54, Nixon 3-(minus 4); Parkway, On 6-51, Gangwer 1-40, J Barna 9-25, Dugan 1-7, Heindel 1-1, Hucke 3-0

Passing: Minster, Nixon 15-26-0-212; Parkway, J Barna 10-25-3-221, Lautzenheiser 0-1-0-0

Receiving: Minster, Eli Wolf 7-83, Ethan Wolf 5-44, J Dues 1-65, A.J. Huelsman 1-10, Huber 1-10; Parkway, B Barna 5-119, Hucke 2-9, Heindel 1-78, Coffman 1-12, Dugan 1-3