Coldwater Jumps to Early Lead; Holds on for 28-17 Victory

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — The talk coming into the game between the Coldwater Cavaliers and the Minster Wildcats centered on the effect the absence of injured Coldwater quarterback Brody Hoying would have on the game. Instead, it was the Cavalier offensive line which opened holes for running back Chris Post and provided quarterback Jack Hemmelgarn with all the time he needed to throw the ball. Similarly, the Coldwater defensive line shut down the Minster running game and harassed Wildcat quarterback Josh Nixon all night long. Combined, they led the Cavaliers to a 28-17 victory.

“We felt going into the game that if there was something we might be a little better than them, it was the O and D lines,” admitted Coldwater coach Chip Otten. “The defense really turned it into a throwing game for them.”

The Cavaliers’ defense helped Coldwater obtain a quick start. On Minster’s first possession, Aaron Harlamert stepped in from of a Wildcat receiver and intercepted a pass at the Minster 35-yard line. Three plays later, Hemmelgarn threw a short swing pass to Chris Post, who sliced through the Wildcat defense for a 21-yard touchdown.

The next series was a repeat of the first. Mitch Clune tipped a Minster pass, which was then intercepted by Mitch Fullenkamp at the Wildcat 24-yard line. An 18-yard touchdown pass from Hemmelgarn to Harlament gave Coldwater a 14-0 advantage midway through the first quarter. When the next Minster possession was also stopped, it appeared the rout may be on.

Fate then took a turn in the Wildcats’ favor. On the Cavaliers’ first play, they fumbled the handoff and Eli Wolf jumped on the loose ball at the Coldwater nine-yard line. Three plays later, Josh Nixon threw over the middle to Sam Dues for a nine-yard touchdown, closing the gap to 14-7.

Minster’s defense stopped Coldwater without a first down on their next two series, and the Wildcat offense took advantage, driving to the Coldwater 15-yard line. When the Cavalier defense stiffened, Jason Schultz drilled a 32-yard field goal to make the score 14-10. Minster seemed to have taken the momentum of the game.

But Coldwater was not going to allow that to happen. Two plays after the ensuing kickoff, Post broke through the Wildcat defense for a 56 yard touchdown run. The Cavalier defense allowed Minster to gain only three yards on their next possession, then the Coldwater offense put together a nine play, 70-yard drive late in the half. When Hemmelgarn found Harlamert for an eight-yard scoring pass to end the drive, the Cavaliers took a 28-10 lead into the locker room.

Both offenses started the second half sluggishly. When Coldwater went back to punt after their second possession, Wolf made a second big defensive play by blocking the kick. Chad Stoner recovered the ball on the Cavalier four-yard line, and two plays later Dues scored from one yard out to close the gap to 28-17.

The teams took turns driving into each other’s territory the rest of the game, but neither could score again. At the start of the fourth quarter, Coldwater used a thirteen-play drive to take over seven minutes off the clock, though they were stopped on the Minster 31-yard line after failing to convert on fourth down. Nine of the thirteen plays were runs by Chris Post, who ended the game with 154 rushing yards on 25 carriers.

“Chris ran well tonight, and it was almost all on the same play,” complimented Otten. “We had a nice long drive in the fourth quarter and ran many minutes off the clock.”

With the clock running down, the Wildcats mounted one last drive. They reached the one-yard line, but the Cavalier defense stopped Nixon short of the goal line on two consecutive plays to preserve the 28-17 victory.

Hemmelgarn had a solid game replacing Brody Hoying, completing 17 of 24 passes for 175 yards and three touchdowns. “He just manages the game really well,” commented Otten. “He’s smart. He knows if he doesn’t find someone to just chuck it away. We went into half thinking they had to score three times to win this, and he knew that, so he played smart.”

“It might be good for us to be in a battle there at the end,” summarized Otten. “They (Minster) are a good team. Their skill guys are really solid. The two touchdown drives we gave up were less than ten yards, so we feel pretty good about our defense.”

Coldwater, now 3-0, takes to the road to face undefeated rival St. Henry (3-0). 2-1 Minster will travel to face their second defending state champion in two weeks, the 3-0 Marion Local Flyers.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Coldwater 14 14 0 0 28

Minster 7 3 7 0 17

First Quarter:

CW – Chris Post 21 yd pass from Jack Hemmelgarn (Kyle McKibben kick), 9:20

CW – Aaron Harlamert 18 yd pass from Jack Hemmelgarn (Kyle McKibben kick), 5:56

MIN – Sam Dues 9 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 3:16

Second Quarter:

MIN – Jason Schultz 32 yd field goal, 8:26

CW – Chris Post 56 yd run (Kyle McKibben kick), 7:24

CW – Aaron Harlamert 8 yd pass from Jack Hemmelgarn (Kyle McKibben kick), 2:08

Third Quarter:

MIN – Sam Dues 1 yd run (Jason Schultz kick), 7:01

Team statistics CW MIN

First downs 15 10

Rushes - yards 34-168 21-44

Passing yards 175 148

Comp - att - int 17-24-0 15-31-2

Total offense 343 192

Punts - average 4-29.5 5-33.2

Fumbles - lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties - yards 6-61 3-15

Time of possession 28:13 19:47

Individual statistics

Rushing: Coldwater, Post 25-154, Schoenherr 1-20, Harlamert 1-1, Thobe 1-0, Hemmelgarn 6-(minus 7); Minster, Nixon 12-32, Huelsman 4-7, Stechschulte 1-3, S Dues 4-2

Passing: Coldwater, Hemmelgarn 17-24-0-175; Minster, Nixon 15-31-2-148

Receiving: Coldwater, Thobe 5-38, Harlamert 4-48, Post 4-43, Schoenherr 3-29, Muhlenkamp 1-17; Minster, Wolf 4-70, Schmiesing 3-32, Schultz 3-28, S Dues 2-9, Huelsman 1-6, Thobe 1-3, J Dues 1-0