Ball Bounces Minster’s Way in 41-8 Victory

By Bruce Monnin

WAPAKONETA — During Saturday night’s regional semifinal game against the Upper Scioto Valley Rams, the ball bounced the way of Minster both to start and to end the first half. Fortune also smiled on the Wildcats in between, as they took a 41-0 lead into the locker room at the halfway point and rode the running clock in the second half to a 41-8 win.

Jonathan Niemeyer bobbled the opening kickoff of the game at the 18-yard line, then picked it up, split the Rams’ cover team, worked his way to the right sideline, and outran the defenders for Minster’s first kick return score this season.

A few drives later, Upper Scioto Valley attempted one of their few deep passes on the night. It was intercepted by Isaac Schmiesing, who returned the pick 31 yards to the Ram 24-yard line. Five plays later Bryce Schmiesing toted it in from five yards out, making the score 13-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, faced with a fourth down and 21 yards to go, Jared Huelsman connected with Isaac Schmiesing for a 34-yard play to the two-yard line. Bryce Schmiesing finished off the drive and the rout was on, 20-0.

It wasn’t until the final two minutes of the half that the wheels truly came off for the Rams. Minster converted a fourth down with nine yards to go to keep a drive alive, before Huelsman scored from three yards out to increase the lead to 27-0 with 1:20 remaining.

Minster used its timeouts to force an Upper Scioto Valley punt with under a minute remaining. 42 seconds later, Huelsman connected with Bryce Schmiesing for an 18-yard touchdown to increase the advantage to 34-0.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Rams decided to run the ball to finish off the half. Alex “Zeus” Oldiges stripped the ball from the running back, broke an arm tackle and powered 24 yards down the right sideline to cross the goal line. The Wildcats had an insurmountable 41-0 lead with only two seconds remaining on the clock.

“That was a back breaker,” said Minster coach Geron Stokes about Oldiges’ strip and score. “That kid who stripped away the ball and carried it to the end zone has put in an unbelievable amount of work, and when kids do that, good things happen to them. He actually spiked the football when he scored.”

“It is a good time to start doing that, huh?” added Stokes about the contributions made by each unit of his team. “Our kids are hungry; you can see it every day in practice. We have elite practices because our kids are so mature and hungry. It shows up on game nights when the kids have phenomenal weeks of practice.”

With so many contributions from the special teams and defense, the Wildcat offense only gained 257 total yards. Leading the way with 71 yards rushing and 154 more through the air was junior quarterback Huelsman.

“He is a competitor. He’s a foxhole guy,” added Stokes. “You put him anywhere, you put him at offensive guard, and he’s going to compete.”

Upper Scioto Valley would score in the final second of the game against the Minster reserves to make the final score 41-8. The Rams end the season with an 8-4 record.

Next week Saturday 8-4 Minster will play 8-4 Fort Recovery in a rematch of last season’s regional final. “Fort Recovery is a big-time challenge for us. We love it,” commented Stokes. “They’re so good, I know we’re going to have a great week of practice.”

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 13 28 0 0 41

Upper Scioto Valley 0 0 0 8 8

First Quarter:

MIN – Jonathan Niemeyer 82 yd kickoff return (Isaac Schmiesing kick), 11:46

MIN – Bryce Schmiesing 5 yd run (kick failed), 4:19

Second Quarter:

MIN – Bryce Schmiesing 2 yd run (Isaac Schmiesing kick), 9:56

MIN – Jared Huelsman 3 yd run (Isaac Schmiesing kick), 1:34

MIN – Bryce Schmiesing 18 yd pass from Jared Huelsman (Isaac Schmiesing kick), 0:21

MIN – Alex Oldiges 24 yd fumble return (Isaac Schmiesing kick), 0:02

Fourth Quarter:

USV – Drew Oglesbee 5 yd pass from Wayne Lowery (Chase Rose pass from Wayne Lowery), 0:01

Team statistics MIN USV

First downs 9 11

Rushes - yards 27-92 35-146

Passing yards 165 42

Comp - att - int 12-20-1 3-10-2

Total yards 257 188

Punts - average 3-36.0 4-36.2

Fumbles - lost 0-0 3-3

Penalties - yards 6-63 3-30

Time of possession 21:39 26:21

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Huelsman 10-71, B Schmiesing 8-17, Miller 4-7, Heitbrink 2-4, Ketner 1-(-1), Harmeyer 1-(-3); Upper Scioto Valley, Lowery 11-47, Rose 5-40, Sloan 11-38, Freytag 6-21, Sousley 2-0

Passing: Minster, Huelsman 11-19-1-154, Ketner 1-1-0-11; Upper Scioto Valley, Lowery 3-10-2-42

Receiving: Minster, B Schmiesing 6-88, Niemeyer 3-21, I Schmiesing 2-45, Shinabery 1-11; Upper Scioto Valley, Rose 2-37, Oglesbee 1-5