Minster Defense Dominates Delphos St. John’s, 41-14

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — When the Minster Wildcats faced Delphos St. John’s last season, they allowed the Blue Jays to score touchdowns each of the first seven times they crossed midfield. This year the Minster defense solved that problem by only allowing St. John’s to cross midfield once before the running clock heralded the arrival of the second string late in a 41-14 Wildcat victory.

“I loved our effort,” commented Minster coach Geron Stokes. “We executed at a higher percentage than we have been. I am really proud of how our kids have been practicing throughout the week.”

The first quarter was a scoreless affair with Minster twice reaching St. John’s territory without scoring. The Wildcats took possession of a punt at their own 16-yard line early in the second quarter and used 14 plays to drive for their opening score. Jared Huelsman’s eighth rush of the drive scored from eight yards out to procure a 7-0 lead.

Alex Lehmkuhl intercepted a pass three plays later and Minster was again in business. A 21-yard touchdown pass from Huelsman to Austin Brown led to the 14-0 halftime score.

The Wildcat defense surrendered only 46 yards during those first two quarters.

“We were worried about this group. That’s a good team,” continued Stokes. “Our guys are just fighting and scrapping. That’s what we want to see out of them.”

The second half saw Minster feed off Blue Jay turnovers. After a Brown interception, the Wildcats completed a 62-yard drive with a 37-yard scoring pass to Cody Frericks. St. John’s responded with a 65-yard drive of their own, as Jared Wurst ran to paydirt from 13 yards out to reduce the Minster lead to 21-7 after three quarters.

The Wildcats took back control of the game when Isaac Schmiesing finished off a long drive with a one-yard run to increase the lead to 27-7. Then the wheels fell off for the Blue Jays.

St. John’s fumbled the ensuing kickoff, but Minster failed to convert. After the Blue Jays took over, Mike Ketner intercepted a pass and returned it 37 yards to increase the lead to 34-7.

St. John’s again fumbled away the ensuing kickoff. Four plays later, Jacob Heuker scored on a four-yard run to start the running clock. Brady Grothaus ran 59 yards for a final Blue Jay score against the Minster second string defense, making the final score 41-14.

Before that final run, the Wildcat defense surrendered only 116 total yards. Huelsman again dominated the Minster offensive statistics with 151 rushing yards on 27 carries while also passing for 172 yards.

With the win, Minster improves to 3-0 for the season (1-0 in MAC play). The Wildcats go on the road next week in a huge MAC matchup against 3-0 Marion Local. Delphos St. John’s falls to 2-1 (0-1 MAC). They will next host to 1-2 Versailles.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 0 14 7 20 41

Delphos St. John’s 0 0 7 7 14

Second Quarter:

MIN – Jared Huelsman 8 yd run (Isaac Schmiesing kick), 5:38

MIN – Austin Brown 21 yd pass from Jared Huelsman (Isaac Schmiesing kick), 2:44

Third Quarter:

MIN – Cody Frericks 37 yd pass from Jared Huelsman (Isaac Schmiesing kick), 3:02

DSJ – Jared Wurst 13 yd run (Mark Wrasman kick), 1:24

Fourth Quarter:

MIN – Isaac Schmiesing 1 yd run (kick failed), 9:18

MIN – Mike Ketner 37 yd interception return (Isaac Schmiesing kick), 6:09

MIN – Jacob Heuker48 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 4:01

DSJ – Brady Grothaus 59 yd run (Mark Wrasman kick), 0:29

Team statistics MIN DSJ

First downs 20 8

Rushes – yards 52-233 22-110

Passing yards 172 65

Comp - att – int 13-19-0 5-14-3

Total yards 405 175

Punts – average 2-33.0 5-35.2

Fumbles – lost 0-0 2-2

Penalties – yards 3-25 0-0

Time of possession 31:22 16:38

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Huelsman 27-151, Schmiesing 14-53, Heuker 3-15, Niemeyer 1-7, Schmitmeyer 7-7; Delphos St. John’s, Grothaus 1-59, Wurst 9-23, Musser 3-14, Brown 2-9, Reindel 5-8, Stemen 1-1, Lindeman 1-(-4)

Passing: Minster, Huelsman 13-19-0-172; Delphos St. John’s, Wurst 5-14-3-65

Receiving: Minster, Brown 4-50, Heitbrink 3-35, Frericks 2-67, Lehmkuhl 2-14, Schmiesing 2-6; Delphos St. John’s, Grothaus 2-21, Miller 1-25, Schwinnen 1-14, Hulihan 1-5