Minster Runs Past Sidney Lehman, 44-21

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — Last week, the Minster Wildcats unveiled a running game which featured quarterback Jared Huelsman rushing for 211 yards. This week the load was carried by Bryce Schmiesing, who compiled 212 rushing yards in the first half alone. Minster scored the first 31 points of the game en route to a 44-21 victory over the Lehman Catholic Cavaliers.

Schmiesing ended up with 248 yards on just 18 carries for the third best rushing game is school history, while the Wildcats rolled up 347 rushing yards as part of their 485 yards of total offense on the evening.

“We feel good about our backs,” admitted Minster coach Geron Stokes. “We challenged Bryce this week. We didn’t think he ran extremely hard last week. He had a little bit of an edge to him tonight. It was fairly easy to run through the holes the offensive line was creating.”

“They (the offensive line) have done a nice job of being intentional about getting better every day,” continued Stokes. “They come in and meet in the mornings and every single day they have a goal to fix something.”

The Wildcats scored on their first five possessions of the contest. Schmiesing carried three times for 66 yards the first time Minster had the ball, concluding the drive with a 12-yard scoring run. It was more groundwork on their second drive, with Huelsman scoring this time on a two-yard plunge.

On Lehman’s third series they were stopped without a first down as they had been during their previous two possessions. This time they resorted to a fake punt, which the Wildcat defense stopped seven yards short of a first down. It took only one play for Minster to take advantage, as Huelsman completed a 28-yard touchdown pass to Schmiesing to make the score 18-0.

The Cavaliers earned their initial first down the next time they had the ball, but Carter Hogenkamp grabbed his first of two interceptions on the next play. Once again, the Wildcats needed only one play, this time a 27-yard run by Schmiesing as time expired in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Huelsman found Jonathan Niemeyer for a 20-yard touchdown pass and Minster’s lead grew to 31-0.

Lehman rallied later in the half, with Elliot Girardi passing to Kameron Lee for a 16-yard touchdown, followed by a Girardi to Dylan Arnold 24-yard scoring toss to cut their deficit to 31-14 at the intermission.

The Wildcats dispelled any doubts on their opening drive of the second half, going 93 yards in five plays, capped by a 25-yard touchdown from Huelsman to Isaac Schmiesing. Minster would add a five-yard scoring run by Huelsman early in the fourth quarter to start the dreaded “running clock” in motion, while the Cavaliers tacked on a late score for the final 44-21 tally.

“I thought we got some momentum and executed our stuff offensively,” concluded Stokes. “They say from week one to week two is supposed to be your biggest improvement. They went to work this week in practice.”

The victory allows Minster to tie the overall series with Lehman at 12 wins apiece for the first time since the teams started playing in 1970.

Next week Friday Minster (2-0) goes on the road to visit 1-1 Delphos St. John’s. 0-2 Lehman Catholic also travels to play 0-2 Graham Local.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 24 7 7 6 44

Lehman Catholic 0 14 0 7 21

First Quarter:

MIN – Bryce Schmiesing 12 yd run (kick blocked), 7:13

MIN – Jared Huelsman 2 yd run (kick blocked), 2:29

MIN – Bryce Schmiesing 28 yd pass from Jared Huelsman (kick failed), 1:05

MIN – Bryce Schmiesing 27 yd run (kick failed), 0:00

Second Quarter:

MIN – Jonathan Niemeyer 20 yd pass from Jared Huelsman (Broc Miller kick), 6:39

LEH – Kameron Lee 16 yd pass from Elliot Gilardi (Michael Denning kick), 3:54

LEH – Dylan Arnold 24 yd pass from Elliot Gilardi (Michael Denning kick), 0:52

Third Quarter:

MIN – Isaac Schmiesing 25 yd pass from Jared Huelsman (Broc Miller kick), 9:24

Fourth Quarter:

MIN – Jared Huelsman 5 yd run (kick failed), 10:16

LEH – Michael Bunker 7 yd pass from Elliot Gilardi (Michael Denning kick), 4:48

Team statistics MIN LEH

First downs 22 14

Rushes - yards 43-347 25-69

Passing yards 138 216

Comp - att - int 6-9-0 19-30-3

Total yards 485 285

Punts - average 3-33.3 4-33.3

Fumbles - lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties - yards 0-0 2-15

Time of possession 26:16 21:44

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, B Schmiesing 18-248, Huelsman 18-81, Miller 3-11, Heitbrink 4-7; Lehman Catholic, Earhart 12-30, Gilardi 11-20, Smith 1-14, Arnold 1-5

Passing: Minster, Huelsman 6-9-0-138; Lehman Catholic, Gilardi 18-29-3-206, Lee 1-1-0-10

Receiving: Minster, Niemeyer 2-68, B Schmiesing 2-38, I Schmiesing 1-25, Lehmkuhl 1-7; Lehman Catholic, Lee 6-71, Arnold 5-54, Bunker 5-49, Neu 1-24, Brown 1-9, Rourke 1-9