Minster Safely Overcomes Anna 20-7

By Bruce Monnin

ANNA — The Minster Wildcats had a solution to the problem posed by the rainy weather conditions against the Anna Rockets. They took an early lead, and only put the ball in the hands of Jared Huelsman and Isaac Schmiesing all night long. The seniors responded with only one turnover, as opposed to the six times Anna coughed up the ball in a 20-7 Minster victory.

On the first play of the game, the Rockets fumbled the handoff and Huelsman recovered on the 25-yard line. Five running plays later, Huelsman scored from five yards out to give the Wildcats a 6-0 lead.

Minster’s second drive involved 15 rushing plays. This time Huelsman scored from one yard away to increase the lead to 12-0.

Meanwhile, the Wildcat defense was holding Anna to just 94 first half yards. Unfortunately for Minster, 60 of those came on a Riley Huelskamp second quarter touchdown run, leaving the score 12-7 at intermission.

The Wildcats took advantage of another Rocket miscue early in the third quarter, as Anna fumbled a punt which Minster’s Alex Schmitmeyer recovered on the Rocket 12-yard line. Huelsman covered that yardage with just one run, then ran for the two-point conversion to increase the Wildcat lead to 20-7.

Interceptions by Huelsman and Austin Brown, as well as a fourth Anna fumble ended most Rocket second half possessions, and the Minster defense stopped Anna one last time at the three-yard line as time ran out.

“That lead early was big. It allowed us to be really, really conservative. We were going to be conservative tonight anyway,” commented Minster coach Geron Stokes. “What an effort. I’m so proud of our kids. We have to go right back to work Monday morning and gear up for a good football team.”

Minster’s conservative game plan saw Huelsman rush 34 times for 140 yards while Schmiesing carried 22 times for 80 yards. The Wildcats attempted no passes, perhaps for the first time in school history since a 1989 win over Dayton Jefferson.

Minster completes the regular season with a 6-4 mark and next Saturday will host either 8-2 Fort Loramie or 6-4 DeGraff Riverside in their first-round playoff game. Anna finishes their season at 7-3 and will travel to play 8-2 Middletown Madison next week to open postseason play.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 12 0 8 0 20

Anna 0 7 0 0 7

First Quarter:

MIN – Jared Huelsman 5 yd run (run failed), 9:45

MIN – Jared Huelsman 1 yd run (kick failed), 1:10

Second Quarter:

ANN – Riley Huelskamp 60 yd run (Robert Flynn kick), 9:28

Third Quarter:

MIN – Jared Huelsman 12 yd run (Jared Huelsman run), 5:52

Team statistics MIN ANN

First downs 11 15

Rushes - yards 56-220 27-138

Passing yards 0 124

Comp - att - int 0-0-0 14-27-2

Total yards 220 262

Punts - average 9-38.3 6-40.5

Fumbles - lost 2-1 4-4

Penalties - yards 6-63 7-65

Time of possession 28:59 19:01

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Huelsman 34-141, Schmiesing 22-79; Anna, Huelskamp 13-89, Endsley 14-49

Passing: Anna, Meyer 14-27-2-124

Receiving: Anna, Fogt 10-98, Kauffman 2-0, Rioch 1-21, Huelskamp 1-5