Minster Opens Defense of 2015 State Title with 41-7 Win Over Fort Loramie

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — There were a couple of subplots at the start of the game between the Minster Wildcats and the Fort Loramie Redskins. The Wildcats were playing their first game as the defending state champions in 25 years, and their opponents were being coached by former Minster mentor Whit Parks.

The game started out as a close affair, with neither team earning a first down on their opening possession. But after Jacob Dues intercepted a Fort Loramie pass at midfield, the Wildcats immediately went for the deep strike, with Josh Nixon connecting with Jack Poeppelman for 50 yards and a 7-0 lead.

The Redskins fought back with a 14-play drive of their own. Mixing the run with four completed passes, Fort Loramie reached the Minster 20-yard line. But the Wildcat defense stiffened, partly due to a huge Isaac Dorsten sack, and Minster took over on downs.

From that point on, Minster showed the form you might expect from a defending state champion.

“I just didn’t think we were very aggressive early, and they were,” remarked Minster coach Geron Stokes. “We’re going to get everyone’s best shot, but our kids handled it well, found out what they were doing, and then went out and made some plays.”

Abandoning the running game, Nixon went back to the air. Early in the second quarter he connected with Jacob Dues for a 29-yard touchdown. Before the stanza was complete, Nixon found Dues again for a 20-yard score, Bryce Schmiesing for 15- and 28-yard touchdowns, and Dues a third time for a final eight-yard score. What had been a close game just a few minutes earlier became a 41-0 Minster halftime advantage.

With a lead over 30 points, the continuously running clock came into play for the rest of the game. Fort Loramie scored a fourth quarter touchdown as the reserves saw action, resulting in the final 41-7 score.

Wildcat quarterback Nixon picked up where he left off last season, completing 15 of 19 pass attempts for 291 yards and six touchdowns. Schmiesing was his favorite target with seven receptions for 147 yards and two scores. Dues only caught four passes for 68 yards, but three of them ended up in the end zone.

Minster takes an 8-4 lead in the series against the Redskins, with their current two game win streak the longest in the short history of the matchup between these two neighboring schools.

Next week Friday 1-0 Minster travels to play 0-1 Sidney Lehman while 0-1 Fort Loramie hosts its home opener against 1-0 Fort Recovery.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 7 34 0 0 41

Fort Loramie 0 0 0 7 7

First Quarter:

MIN – Jack Poeppelman 50 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 9:17

Second Quarter:

MIN – Jacob Dues 29 yd pass from Josh Nixon (kick failed), 11:34

MIN – Jacob Dues 20 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 9:14

MIN – Bryce Schmiesing 15 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 6:15

MIN – Bryce Schmiesing 28 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 4:59

MIN – Jacob Dues 8 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 0:20

Fourth Quarter:

FL – Drew Wehrman 15 yd pass from Austin Siegel (Josh Siegel kick), 9:48

Team statistics MIN FL

First downs 14 14

Rushes - yards 13-10 46-133

Passing yards 291 92

Comp - att - int 15-19-0 7-12-1

Total yards 301 225

Fumbles - lost 0-0 2-1

Penalties - yards 2-20 8-82

Time of possession 12:14 35:46

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Huelsman 3-12, Stechschulte 2-7, Heitbrink 6-(-1), Nixon 2-(-8); Fort Loramie, J Siegel 16-57, Holthaus 10-52, Pleiman 9-32, Ward 3-17, Puthoff 1-5, Raterman 1-(-1), A Siegel 6-(-29)

Passing: Minster, Nixon 15-19-0-291; Fort Loramie, A Siegel 7-12-1-92

Receiving: Minster, Schmiesing 7-147, Dues 4-68, Poeppelman 2-66, Schultz 1-5, Ranly 1-5; Fort Loramie, Wehrman 3-59, Berning 3-28, Pleiman 1-5