Delphos St. John’s Grinds Out 35-28 Win In Second Half

By Bruce Monnin

DELPHOS — It was game of contrasting styles between the Delphos St. John’s Blue Jays and the Minster Wildcats. Minster had great difficulty stopping the powerful St. John’s running game, while the Blue Jays had trouble keeping the Wildcats from moving the ball at will through the air. After the two teams combined for over 500 first half yards, it was St. John’s who came up with the needed second half stops while their running game pounded on, earning the Blue Jays a 35-28 win and a playoff berth.

“A lot of credit has to go to the big guys up front,” commented St. John’s coach Todd Schulte. “I think we wore them down a bit.”

“Delphos physically took a toll on us,” confirmed Minster coach Geron Stokes. “We have some work to do in the offseason. Minster hasn’t won a state title since 1989, and it is going to take a lot of work to change that.”

The difference between the two offenses was highlighted by the time of possession. St. John’s held the ball for over 34 minutes compared to just over 13 minutes for the Wildcats.

The Blue Jays set the tone for their offense on their first drive, running the ball ten out of eleven plays as they drove to the Minster nine-yard line. However, on fourth down Tyler Jettinghoff was stopped two yards short of the first down marker, and the Wildcats survived the first St. John’s assault.

Minster took little time to respond. Three consecutive completed passes moved the ball to the 25-yard line, setting up Sam Dues to run through a surprised Blue Jay defense for a 75-yard scoring run. Two plays later, St. John’s showed they could play the same way, as Luke MacLennan ran clear for a 55-yard touchdown. A missed extra point left Minster with a 7-6 lead after the first quarter.

The Wildcats survived the first Blue Jay drive of the second quarter when they forced and recovered a fumble at their own 34-yard line. A minute and a half later, Josh Nixon threw a 29-yard scoring strike to A.J. Huelsman, giving Minster a 14-6 lead.

With 8:47 remaining in the half, St. John’s embarked on a 15 play, 80-yard scoring drive which used 7:17 of the clock. Jettinghoff scored the first of his four touchdowns on the night from five yards out and quarterback Nick Martz converted the two-point try to even the score at 14 apiece.

However, the Blue Jays left 90 seconds on the clock, which were 20 more than the Wildcats needed. Nixon completed five out of seven passes as he methodically worked Minster down the field, finding Eli Wolf in the corner of the end zone from 13 yards out to give the Wildcats a 21-14 halftime lead.

The stats told the story of the first half of the game. Nixon had completed 11 of 15 passes for 155 of Minster’s 276 total yards, while St. John’s had run the ball 33 times for 221 of their 255 yards.

In a change from the first half, neither team was able to score in the third quarter, though the Blue Jays were winning the battle of field position. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Jettinghoff scored from four yards away to tie the game at 21-21.

St. John’s continued to pound the ball on their next series, as well as completing a big fourth down pass, leading to an eleven-yard Jettinghoff score. The Blue Jays then intercepted a Minster pass deep in Wildcat territory, leading to a Jettinghoff one yard scoring run and a 35-21 lead with just 2:30 remaining in the game.

Minster had one last gasp, as they need just a minute to close the score to 35-28. From the St. John’s 44-yard line, Nixon fired a pass over the middle to Eli Wolf, who was surrounded by five Blue Jay defenders. Wolf brought down the throw, broke away from the defense and outran the pursuing quintet for the touchdown.

The ensuing Minster onside kick was covered by the Blue Jays, who then ran out the clock for the win.

For the game, Minster outgained St. John’s threw the air by a large margin, 230 yards to 62. The Blue Jay advantage was on the ground, as they piled up 324 yards rushing to just 144 for the Wildcats.

The win earns 6-4 Delphos St. John’s a berth in the playoffs with the eighth seed in region 24. They will travel to play 8-2 Leipsic next week. Minster ends the season with a 6-4 record and a 6-2 mark in MAC play. The Wildcats just miss out on postseason play, finishing 10th overall in region 22.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Delphos St. John’s 6 8 0 21 35

Minster 7 14 0 7 28

First Quarter:

MIN – Sam Dues 75 yd run (Jason Schultz kick), 4:14

DSJ – Luke MacLennan 55 yd run (kick failed), 3:15

Second Quarter:

MIN – A.J. Huelsman 29 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 8:47

DSJ – Tyler Jettinghoff 5 yd run (Nick Martz run), 1:30

MIN – Eli Wolf 13 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 0:20

Fourth Quarter:

DSJ – Tyler Jettinghoff 4 yd run (Ben Wrasman kick), 11:56

DSJ – Tyler Jettinghoff 11 yd run (Ben Wrasman kick), 3:57

DSJ – Tyler Jettinghoff 1 yd run (Ben Wrasman kick), 2:30

MIN – Eli Wolf 44 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 1:29

Team statistics MIN DSJ

First downs 15 19

Rushes - yards 16-144 59-324

Passing yards 230 62

Comp - att - int 17-26-1 5-5-0

Total offense 374 386

Return yards 88 31

Punts - average 3-24.3 1-34.0

Fumbles - lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties - yards 3-15 2-25

Time of possession 13:38 34:22

Individual statistics

Rushing: Delphos St. John’s, Jettinghoff 32-143, MacLennan 13-122, Martz 14-59; Minster, S Dues 12-124, Nixon 2-10, Stechschulte 2-10

Passing: Delphos St. John’s, Martz 5-5-0-62; Minster, Nixon 17-26-1-230

Receiving: Delphos St. John’s, Conley 2-26, Wrasman 1-15, May 1-14, Jettinghoff 1-7; Minster, Eli Wolf 7-100, Ethan Wolf 4-21, J Dues 3-29, Huelsman 2-71, S Dues 1-9