Minster Intercepts Versailles for 20-12 Win

By Bruce Monnin

VERSAILLES — Much praise has been heaped upon the Minster Wildcat offense the last few seasons, but Friday night it was the defense that stood tall and secured a 20-12 victory over the Versailles Tigers. After Minster scored early in the fourth quarter to take a 14-12 lead, the Wildcat defense would grab four interceptions in the final 6:44 to set up the final score and halt every Versailles attempt at a comeback.

“We talked all week that someone has to own our defense, step up and make a play,” said Minster coach Geron Stokes. “That was awesome to see. They weren’t doing anything exceptional; they were just being solid and being in the right spots.”

“I don’t know how many turnovers we had, but you can’t keep shooting yourself in the foot,” added Versailles coach Adam Miller. “We just told the kids, we are backed in a corner now, so we have to come out swinging. We have to do everything we can to beat St. Henry next week.”

It was a first half of defense and missed opportunities. After the Tiger defense forced a three and out, the Versailles offense used their first opportunity to drive to the Wildcat 24-yard line, before the Minster defense stuffed a fourth down run to regain possession.

After each team traded punts, the Wildcats used a 36-yard Bryce Schmiessing punt return to start at the Tiger 31-yard line. Seven plays later, Josh Nixon connected with Peter Ranly for a seven-yard touchdown pass and Minster led 6-0. With their placekicker Jason Schultz injured early in the game, Minster tried and failed to convert a two point try.

Stokes said his team felt the loss of Schultz greatly. “That’s our kicker, our hybrid guy, our Sam linebacker, our punter and a leader for us. That was a big win for our other seniors to step up and lead.”

The Wildcats then missed two chances to expand the lead. A 57-yard Nixon run was followed by an interception by Sam Barga to end the first threat. Minster’s next possession covered 58 yards before they turned it over on downs in Versailles territory.

With time running down in the half, the Tiger’s mounted a twelve play, 75-yard scoring drive. It was capped by a six-yard pass from Jared Niekamp to Corey Dieringer which evened the score at 6-6 at intermission.

The teams traded turnovers early in the third quarter. Minster fumbled away the ball but regained it on the next play as Jared Huelsman grabbed an interception. The turnover led to no points but was a harbinger of events to come.

Later in the quarter Versailles started a drive in Minster territory. It took only six plays for the Tigers to cover the needed 44 yards, with Collin Peters running it over from seven yards out. A second failed extra point kick left the score 12-6 in Versailles’ favor.

Minster responded with their best drive of the evening. Nixon used five of his eleven completions in the game to key a 13-play touchdown drive. Evan Huelsman’s one yard scoring plunge tied the game, and an end around run by Schmiessing for the two-point conversion gave the Wildcats a 14-12 advantage.

The Tigers’ offense looked ready to answer, using nine plays to reach the Minster 14-yard line. That is when the Minster secondary took over. Jared Huelsman snagged his second interception and returned it 84 yards to the Versailles two-yard line. Two plays later brother Evan scored his second touchdown. The two-point try failed but the Wildcat’s had a 20-12 lead with 5:43 to go.

On the Tiger’s next series, Jonathan Niemeyer got in on the act, catching a Versailles pass at midfield. After a Minster punt, Jared Thobe took his turn, his interception occurring at the Tiger 35-yard line.

The Wildcat offense used some clock but returned the ball to Versailles with 58 seconds remaining. Two plays later the Tigers were threatening at the Minster 44-yard line, but Jared Huelsman secured his third pick of the night to seal the victory.

Besides the interceptions, the Wildcat defense held Versailles running back Collin Peters to just 44 yards on 23 carries.

Minster has now won the last five games in this series, which Versailles still dominates with 26 wins to only 13 for the Wildcats.

Next week Friday, 3-2 Minster will return home on Oktoberfest weekend to face 1-4 Delphos St. John’s. 3-2 Versailles goes on the road to take on 3-2 St. Henry in a game with huge postseason implications.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 6 0 0 14 20

Versailles 0 6 6 0 12

First Quarter:

MIN – Peter Ranly 7 yd pass from Josh Nixon (pass failed), 0:12

Second Quarter:

VER – Corey Dieringer 6 yd pass from Jared Niekamp (kick failed), 0:27

Third Quarter:

VER – Collin Peters 7 yd run (kick failed), 4:15

Fourth Quarter:

MIN – Evan Huelsman 1 yd run (Bryce Schmiesing run), 10:56

MIN – Evan Huelsman 1 yd run (pass failed), 5:43

Team statistics MIN VER

First downs 12 16

Rushes - yards 31-102 33-105

Passing yards 128 191

Comp - att - int 11-21-1 15-30-5

Total yards 230 296

Punts - average 4-38.0 4-40.5

Fumbles - lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties - yards 4-35 6-47

Time of possession 20:05 27:55

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Nixon 13-60, Huelsman 16-36, Schmiesing 2-6; Versailles, Peters 23-44, Subler 4-31, Niekamp 2-17, Jones 1-10, Dieringer 2-2, Lyons 1-1

Passing: Minster, Nixon 11-21-1-128; Versailles, Niekamp 15-30-5-191

Receiving: Minster, Schmiesing 3-71, Dues 3-39, Poeppelman 2-15, Ranly 1-7, Stechschulte 1-0, Huelsman 1-(minus 4); Versailles, Dieringer 7-112, Wendel 5-41, Schmitt 2-28, Barga 1-10