Minster Beats Anna 35-14

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — It wasn’t the cleanest game of the year for either team, as the Minster Wildcats and the Anna Rockets combined for seven turnovers. However, it was one more step towards the defense of their state title for Minster, as they used an early quick start to secure a 35-14 victory.

Anna opened the first half looking like they had adopted the Minster playbook. A quick pass over the middle gained 20 yards on the first play. The Rockets went back to it for the second play, but the ball bounced off the receiver’s hands and was intercepted at midfield by Jonathan Niemeyer. After that Minster controlled the game for most of the first half.

Minster responded by demonstrating how the passing game could be successfully employed. Josh Nixon played pitch and catch with Jacob Dues on four passing plays for 44 yards, including the 15-yard scoring strike for the early 7-0 lead.

Later in the opening stanza the Wildcat duo hooked up again for two more completions for 24 yards, including a 10-yard score. Jason Schultz’ extra point made it a 14-0 advantage.

Anna started to get their offense moving early in the second quarter, but Dues again came up big. Niemeyer broke up a Rocket pass near midfield and Dues came up from his safety position to make the interception and return it 39 yards to the Anna 19. Evan Huelsman caught a screen pass and rushed three times to generate the third Minster touchdown.

“I liked us right off the get go. We were sharp. Our seniors got us ready to play,” complimented Minster coach Geron Stokes. “However, we turned the ball over too much and had too many penalties. That wasn’t a real sharp second and third quarter.”

Anna gave the Rocket fans something to cheer about before half when they returned a punt to midfield and then used eleven plays to drive for their first score. Colin Wuebker threw a ten-yard pass to Carter Huelskamp to reduce the Anna deficit to 21-7.

As the final seconds of the half ticked off, the Wildcats tried to better last week’s kicking magic. Minster sent out Jason Schultz to attempt a 52-yard field goal, but the kick was short and to the right.

The Wildcat offense took the second half kickoff and put the game away. They used eleven plays to complete a 65-yard touchdown drive, with Nixon scoring from one yard out to make the lead 28-7.

On the Rockets’ ensuing series, Jonathan Niemeyer intercepted another pass to help preserve the lead. After only picking off 13 passes last season, the Minster secondary have now chalked up 17 picks so far this season.

“We thought that was a weak spot for us at the end of last year,” noted Stokes. “They’ve consistently played with more confidence driving on the ball. When they’ve had those opportunities (for interceptions) they’ve taken them. That’s big for our team.”

The teams then traded possessions where they drove into each other’s territory before turning the ball over. As the fourth quarter wound down, Anna put together a long drive which culminated with Colin Wuebker throwing a ten-yard touchdown pass to Aiden Endsley to close the gap to 28-14.

Minster would recover then onside kick that followed, and Jared Huelsman would cap off the scoring for the game with a 49-yard run which made the final score 35-14.

Nixon completed 21 of 34 passes on the evening for 206 yards, throwing both two touchdowns and two interceptions. His main target was Dues, who had ten receptions for 120 yards and two scores.

When Dues was informed that he had tied the school record for receptions in a game, instead of being happy, he was upset he dropped a late pass which would have given him the outright mark. “We’re trying to be as perfect as we can,” added Stokes. “All of our kids are really unselfish. They want to win. They want this thing to end right.”

7-2 Minster will complete the regular season at home against 2-7 Parkway next Friday. 3-6 Anna will finish their season at 5-4 St. Henry.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 14 7 7 7 35

Anna 0 7 0 7 14

First Quarter:

MIN – Jacob Dues 15 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 9:05

MIN – Jacob Dues 14 yd pass from Josh Nixon (Jason Schultz kick), 2:30

Second Quarter:

MIN – Evan Huelsman 1 yd run (Jason Schultz kick), 8:57

ANN – Carter Huelskamp 10 yd pass from Colin Wuebker (Aidan Endsley kick), 0:26

Third Quarter:

MIN – Josh Nixon 1 yd run (Jason Schultz kick), 8:17

Fourth Quarter:

ANN – Aidan Endsley 17 yd pass from Colin Wuebker (Aidan Endsley kick), 3:21

MIN – Jared Huelsman 49 yd run (Jason Schultz kick), 3:02

Team statistics MIN ANN

First downs 21 15

Rushes - yards 28-209 43-167

Passing yards 206 66

Comp - att - int 21-34-2 5-16-4

Total yards 415 232

Punts - average 1-44.0 3-36.7

Fumbles - lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties - yards 4-47 1-5

Time of possession 23:01 24:59

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, J Huelsman 7-98, E Huelsman 11-57, Nixon 3-22, I Schmiesing 4-20, B Schmiesing 2-12, Stechschulte 1-0; Anna, N Rioch 11-75, Wuebker 15-50, C Rioch 11-30, Meyer 6-12

Passing: Minster, Nixon 21-34-2-206; Anna, Wuebker 4-7-2-46, Meyer 1-9-2-20

Receiving: Minster, Dues 10-120, E Huelsman 4-22, Poeppelman 4-20, Ranly 2-33, B Schmiesing 1-11; Anna, Huelskamp 2-24, Luthman 1-20, Endsley 1-17, Cates 1-5