Minster Outscores Delphos St. John’s 52-28

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — If you are a fan of tough, defensive high school football, Friday night’s game between the Minster Wildcats and the Delphos St. John’s Blue Jays was not your cup of tea. But if you like the see the scoreboard light up, Minster’s 52-28 victory was all you could hope for.

For the second week in a row, the Wildcat defense was in ball hawking form, grabbing three interceptions on the night. Minster also unveiled their best running game of the season, as Evan Huelsman carried the pigskin 27 times for a whopping 209 yards and four touchdowns.

The Wildcats started the game looking like the running clock was destined to be in play during the second half. Their first possession featured a 44-yard completion from Josh Nixon to Jacob Dues, followed immediately by a one-yard scoring run by Huelsman. Their second drive consisted of two passes from Nixon to Schmiesing with the scoring strike covering 37 yards. The final first quarter drive consisted of only one play, a 48-yard connection between Nixon and Dues to make the score 20-0.

With the change in quarter came a change in both the wind and the game’s momentum. The first play of the new period saw Troy Elwer find Aaron Reindel over the middle for a 36-yard touchdown. On their next series, a 32-yard completion to Eric Vogt set up a two-yard Reindel touchdown run to close the gap to 20-13.

Minster coach Geron Stokes has often lamented this season that his playmakers have not made plays. This time, when it was really needed, Schmiesing came up big with a 93-yard return of the Blue Jay kickoff to seize back the momentum and give the Wildcats a 26-13 lead. After an interception by Dues, Minster would extend the lead to 32-13 on a nine-yard Huelsman touchdown carry.

St. John’s fought back again before the half with a six play, 56-yard drive capped off by a 21-yard Reindel scoring run. A two-point conversion made the score 32-21 at the break.

The teams traded touchdowns early in the third quarter. Minster started out going into the headwind, so the Wildcats turned exclusively to running back Huelsman. Eight running plays covered 68 yards, concluding with a single yard scoring plunge.

Later in the quarter, after Minster failed to convert on a fourth down, Elwer lofted a Blue Jay pass deep which bounced off both his intended receiver and the Wildcat defender before landing in the arms of Jordan Mohler at the four-yard line. Two plays later, Reindel scored on a three-yard run to reduce the St. John’s deficit to 39-28.

The rest of the game belonged to Minster. Huelsman scored on an 11-yard run late in the third quarter, and Nixon connected again with Schmiesing for a 63-yard touchdown for the only score in the final period. The Wildcat backups ran out the clock to secure the 52-28 victory.

With the win, Minster improves to 4-2 for the season (2-2 in MAC play) and possibly into a top four position in the region 26 computer rankings. The Wildcats travel to one of the MAC’s three undefeated teams, 6-0 Fort Recovery, next week in a computer point bonanza for the winner. Delphos St. John’s falls to 1-5 (1-3 MAC). They will next travel to 1-5 Anna.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 20 12 14 6 52

Delphos St. John’s 0 21 7 0 28

First Quarter:

MIN – Evan Huelsman 1 yd run (pass failed), 6:30

MIN – Bryce Schmiesing 37 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jared Thobe kick), 4:16

MIN – Jacob Dues 48 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jared Thobe kick), 1:07

Second Quarter:

DSJ – Aaron Reindel 36 yd pass from Troy Elwer (Jesse Ditto kick), 11:53

DSJ – Aaron Reindel 2 yd run (kick blocked), 7:14

MIN – Bryce Schmiesing 93 yd kickoff return (kick failed), 7:00

MIN – Evan Huelsman 9 yd run (run failed), 4:01

DSJ – Aaron Reindel 21 yd run (Troy Elwer run), 1:35

Third Quarter:

MIN – Evan Huelsman 1 yd run (Jared Thobe kick), 9:50

DSJ – Aaron Reindel 3 yd run (Jesse Ditto kick), 4:04

MIN – Evan Huelsman 13 yd run (Jared Thobe kick), 0:47

Fourth Quarter:

MIN – Bryce Schmiesing 63 yd pass from Josh Nixon (kick failed), 8:58

Team statistics MIN DSJ

First downs 20 13

Rushes - yards 41-274 33-72

Passing yards 230 187

Comp - att - int 14-17-0 13-26-3

Total yards 504 259

Punts - average 2-16.5 3-21.3

Fumbles - lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties - yards 5-31 2-10

Time of possession 23:14 24:46

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Huelsman 27-209, I Schmiesing 7-44, B Schmiesing 1-11, Nixon 3-10, Hoying 1-0, Heitbrink 2-0; Delphos St. John’s, A Reindel 11-35, Elwer 12-31, Mohler 4-5, Schier 1-2, C Reindel 4-1, Hulihan 1-(-2)

Passing: Minster, Nixon 13-16-0-221, Hoying 1-1-0-9; Delphos St. John’s, Elwer 13-25-3-187, Hulihan 0-1-0-0

Receiving: Minster, B Schmiesing 9-122, Dues 3-97, Heitkamp 1-9, Ranly 1-2; Delphos St. John’s, Vogt 6-81, Kreeger 4-31, A Reindel 2-37, Mohler 1-38