A Fine Line - Development of O-line a Key to Cats’ Success

By Colin Foster

MINSTER — Jared Huelsman put himself in the Minster record book last Friday with 277 yards rushing against Norwalk St. Paul. The senior quarterback gave most of the credit to his offensive line.

“I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had so much space to cut. That’s a good feeling. That’s something you want to see,” Huelsman said after racking up the secondmost rushing yards in Minster history. “(The offensive line) puts in more work than anyone. They come in at 7:15 a.m. and watch film. They don’t get enough credit.”

Seniors Luke Puthoff (left tackle), Dan Becker (left guard) and Duke Bernhold (right tackle), juniors Sam Schmiesing (right guard) and August Boehnlein (fullback/tight end) and sophomore Dustin Frericks (center) make up the Minster offensive line.

None of them were starters last season, Minster coach Geron Stokes pointed out in Monday’s state football teleconference. They weren’t the most finelytuned unit at the beginning of the season, but they blossomed into one of the best O-line’s around — creating running lanes all year for Huelsman and running back Isaac Schmiesing.

The Wildcats had 200-or-more yards rushing five times this season, including last week’s 311-yard day against St. Paul.

“A lot of them haven’t played varsity football before,” Stokes said. “They were really bad players, kids we didn’t really think were going to play varsity football and they just found a different edge, a different hunger about themselves this offseason. They really, really worked and invested the right way.

We weren’t good at the beginning of the season, either. They’d come in at 7:15 in the morning and watch tape. A lot of it’s been teaching, a lot of it’s been self-evaluating. They’ve developed into a really, really close-knit group, which has been really cool to see because they weren’t at the start.

“They’re going to look back on this run and they’re going to see that their play has been better and improved, but more importantly, I think they’re going to look back on these relationships they’ve developed and be really proud of the group they’ve become. They’ve been big for us.”

Oh, Brother

Bryce Schmiesing was Minster’s starting running back last year. Stokes wasn’t quite sure if his brother, Isaac, would be able to handle the load in the backfield this year, but the transition has been smooth.

“Physically, we were a little worried about (Isaac) because we weren’t sure he could take the pounding,” Stokes said. “But he’s a competitive kid. He’s just a nut. You watch him play basketball. You watch him play baseball. You watch him workout. He’s feisty and scrappy. ... We were worried about him a little bit, though. We didn’t know if he was mentally tough enough, honestly. He struggled a little bit throughout the year. But he battled and he found a way. That’s what good kids do. He’s been big for us lately.”

Both switched from wide receiver to running back.

Last season, Bryce had 184 carries for 1,228 yards and 16 touchdowns to go along with 54 catches for 516 yards and five touchdowns. This season, Isaac has tallied 161 carries for 794 yards and eight scores and has added a team-leading 39 catches for 388 yards and one touchdown.

“They’re very different — so much so that when they played together, they fought almost every day,” Stokes said. “Bryce was shorter and stockier and more physical. Isaac is just a hard-working, scrappy, intelligent nut. They’re two different players for sure.”

New Year, New Story

Minster is in the state final for a third time in four years. The Wildcats defeated Kirtland 46-42 for the 2014 Division VI title and lost to Warren John F. Kennedy 24-6 in last year’s Division VII game.

The success over the last few years has not been forgotten, but it’s not something Stokes talks about with the current group.

They’re busy writing the next chapter in their own story.

“We’ve talked all year long about getting to write your own story,” Stokes said. “We think that’s the coolest thing about life is you get to decide, you get to choose what happens to you and you get to write your own story. We have emphasized like crazy — and our guys have learned from the past, they’ve watched how other guys have done it. Our whole mission is to maximize their potential. We want to get the absolute most out of our guys, squeeze every drop out of them.

“As far as last year’s state title run, that was a whole different crew, a whole different leadership style and group of kids that were in charge of everything. Our group this year has learned from it, but it’s a whole different crew. They’ve really been emphatic about writing their own story.”

Wildcats ready to face Redskins

by Colin Foster

Marion Local and Coldwater have developed the reputation of state-title hunters on a yearly basis. Midwest Athletic Conference-mate Minster has earned that reputation, too.

The Wildcats are making their third trip to the title game in four years and will look to earn their second state crown in that span when they meet Cuyahoga Heights in the Division VII championship game at 10 a.m. on Friday at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.

“We’re jacked up to play in the state finals again,” Minster coach Geron Stokes said. “We’ve had some kids step up and we’ve had some great senior leadership that has driven us. We’re just excited to be back and grateful for another week of practice.”

Minster will meet a Redskins team that fell just short of winning their first state title last year, losing to Marion Local 21-17 in the Division VI game.

Cuyahoga Heights enters with a record of 12-1 and knocked off defending champion Warren John F. Kennedy (40-12), No. 13 East Canton (46-14), No. 2 Dalton (42-41) and No. 3 Danville (38-8) to seal a return trip to the final.

The Redskins returned two of their top offensive playmakers from last year’s team in fullback 6-foot-2, 220-pound senior Lucas D’Orazio and 6-0, 170-pound senior Dylan Drummond. In last year’s loss to Marion Local, D’Orazio carried the ball 13 times for 34 yards and a touchdown. This season, he has amassed 1,200 yards on 181 carries with 23 rushing touchdowns and two receiving. Drummond had four catches for 87 yards in last year’s state final. He has 52 catches for 959 yards with 16 TDs this season.

Cuyahoga Heights also has back three offensive linemen. Five-foot-nine senior Ryan Polk has completed 101-of-165 passes for 1,735 yards with 23 TDs and six interceptions in his first year under center. The offense has produced 38-or-more points in four playoff wins.

“Their offense is incredible,” Stokes said. “It’s going to take 11. You can’t go to the state finals and try to win it with a hole or holes in your defense. They can expose you in all sorts of ways. They can pound you. They can get to the edge. They can throw it over your head. They can throw it in front of you and make you miss. It’s going to take 11.”

Last year’s Cuyahoga Heights defense entered the state final having only surrendered 21 points before Marion Local matched that total. Nine players graduated from that defensive unit. This season, opponents have scored double digits against the Redskins in all but three games.

Minster is coming off a game in which it dominated Norwalk St. Paul like no other team had done this season. Topranked St. Paul had blown out every opponent entering last week. The Wildcats flipped the script, as quarterback Jared Huelsman rushed for 277 yards in a 40-7 thrashing.

“When we saw the tape of Norwalk St. Paul, our kids perked up right away,” Stokes recalled. “They thought ‘Holy cow, we’re in for a dogfight.’ It jumped off the screen how good they were, how well they did things. Our kids took a different mentality in their preparation. They could see if we didn’t prepare like crazy, if we didn’t attack this thing, we’re in trouble. Every rep in practice was important.

“They were hungry Friday night. Hopefully we can continue that this week.”

Friday’s matchup is the first of two state finals meetings between programs from the MAC and Chagrin Valley Conference. Marion Local and Kirtland will face off in the Division VI championship game at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

The last time the Wildcats last met a CVC team was in the 2014 Division VI state final and they claimed the program’s first state title since 1989 with a 46-42 win over Kirtland.

Cuyahoga Heights lost this year’s matchup to Kirtland 42-35. Redskin coach Al Martin said the Wildcats are comparable to the Hornets in many regards.

“They’re extremely well coached,” Martin said. “They’re really physical, really big up front offensively. The quarterback stands out. He’s so patient. You can see his athletic confidence is just so high. He takes his time and reads the blocks, and they do a nice job structurally of getting in spread formations and if you’re spread out, they run it right at you. If you’re not spread out, he’s accurate enough to throw it out there to get big plays in the passing game.

“Defensively, they’re really aggressive. The linebackers come down hill and they’re very physical. They’re just very well-coached. They’re one of those teams like Kirtland where 11 guys play hard, whistle to whistle.”

Running Away with the Title

Huelsman’s Three TDs Gives Minster Its Third State Football Championship

By Colin Foster

CANTON — Minster peaked at the right time.

On Friday, the Wildcats completed their climb to the peak of Division VII football with a 32-7 victory over Cuyahoga Heights in the state championship game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

Jared Huelsman rushed for 221 yards and tied a Division VII championship game record with three rushing touchdowns as the orange and black scored 25 unanswered points over the final three quarters to claim their second title in four years and the third in program history.

“Today was a display of who our seniors are and what they stand for,” Minster coach Geron Stokes said. “I just thought everyone in attendance saw the resiliency, the toughness, the amount of care that they had for one another on those red-zone stops, just the way they were competing. They were having fun, and they slap fives more than any team in the country. I thought it was a cool display of who these guys are.”

Minster outgained Cuyahoga Heights 398 yards to 246 and seized the momentum with two long touchdown drives to end the first half. The Wildcats collected four interceptions on the day, including three in the second half when Cuyahoga Heights was trying to get back into the game.

The Wildcat defense came up with a clutch stop after an early turnover by the offense. Austin Brown had a pass slip through his fingers and into the hands of Alex Studniarz on Minster’s second offensive play.

“We just told him right after that to bounce back,” Huelsman said. “It doesn’t matter. Forget it. It’s in the past. You can’t do anything about it.”

Brown soon made up for it when he picked off Ryan Polk on a fourth-down pass attempt into the end zone.

“Their defense came out and stopped us right away, which I thought was a really key part of the game,” Cuyahoga Heights coach Al Martin said.

Back on offense, Brown caught a 44-yard strike from Huelsman to put the Wildcats in front 7-0 with 7:07 left in the first.

The Redskins tied the game 3-1⁄2 minutes later. They had three third-down conversions on a 10-play, 64-yard drive, which was capped by a 28-yard touchdown pass from Polk to Dylan Drummond.

But all the subsequent highlights belonged to Minster.

The Wildcats started a series at their own 6-yard line with just more than 10 minutes on the clock before half. They covered the distance in 14 plays and took more than five minutes off the clock. Minster used a series of quick-hit passes to Brown and dumps to Isaac Schmiesing in the flats to move the chains. Huelsman put the Cats in front 13-7 with a 3-yard touchdown run.

Huelsman did a lot more running before the half was over.

After forcing a Cuyahoga Heights’ punt, Minster received the ball on its own 17 with 3:17 left before halftime. Huelsman rushed for 66 yards and added a 17-yard completion to Brown. Huelsman scored a three-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-goal as the half ended.

“That offensive line comes in and a lot of those guys don’t play on the other side of the ball,” Martin said. “Our guys are playing on offense, and they’ve got to dig in on defense. They are big and strong. I thought they wore on us a little bit in the first half. I thought we came back and responded a little better in the second half, but yeah, it was a concern for sure when they took it 170 yards on those two drives.”

Schmiesing intercepted Polk on the third play of the second half. Moments later, Huelsman slipped past four or five defenders and into the end zone from nine yards out with 8:06 left in the third to tie the title game TD record.

“It’s just a credit to the O-line for giving me holes and just letting me run,” Huelsman said.

“He’s a really good football player,” Martin said of Huelsman. “He’s a really confident kid and really talented. But that’s a really good offensive line. Everybody wants to run behind that offensive line.”

The Redskins worked their way into Minster territory twice more in the second half, but Schmiesing and Alex Lehmkuhl ended the drives with interceptions.

Schmiesing added a three-yard touchdown with 3:41 remaining in the game. Defensively, he finished with eight tackles and two interceptions.

“Isaac Schmiesing was a terrible free safety in the middle of the year,” Stokes said. “He had two picks today and a ton of tackles. Good things happen to really good people. Look all over the world, it happens all the time. It’s not an accident or a coincidence that they played their best football at the end of the year. All these guys are really high-character people.”

Huelsman completed 12-of-20 passes for 141 yards. Brown had seven catches for 92 yards. Jacob Hoying led the defense with nine tackles. August and Anthony Boehnlein added seven apiece.

The Wildcats had also won football titles in 1989 and 2014. Friday’s victory marked the 32nd state championship in Minster history.

“It’s just a credit to our work ethic and our practices this year,” said Lehmkuhl, who finished with three catches for 19 yards.

“It never gets old,” Schmiesing added.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 7 12 6 7 32

Cuyahoga Heights 7 0 0 0 7

First Quarter:

MIN – Austin Brown 44 yd pass from Jared Huelsman (Isaac Schmiesing kick); 7:07

CH – Dylan Drummond 28 yd pass from Ryan Polk (Dylan Drummond kick); 3:36

Second Quarter:

MIN - Jared Huelsman 3 yd run (kick failed); 4:45

MIN - Jared Huelsman 3 yd run (kick failed); 0:00

Third Quarter:

MIN - Jared Huelsman 9 yd run (kick failed); 8:06

Fourth Quarter:

MIN - Isaac Schmiesing 3 yd run (Isaac Schmiesing kick); 3:41

Team statistics MIN CH

First downs 18 14

Rushes - yards 37-257 36-130

Passing yards 141 116

Comp - att - int 12-20-2 11-23-4

Total yards 398 246

Punts - average 2-27.0 3-36.7

Fumbles - lost 0-0 1-0

Penalties - yards 3-30 4-30

Time of possession 22:34 25:26

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Huelsman 31-221, Schmiesing 6-36; Cuyahoga Heights, D'Orazio 18-68, Polk 12-52, Drummond 2-9, Polack 2-3, Alpert 2-(-2)

Passing: Minster, Huelsman 12-20-2-141; Cuyahoga Heights, Polk 11-23-4-116

Receiving: Minster, Brown 7-92, Lehmkuhl 3-19, Schmiesing 2-30; Cuyahoga Heights, Drummond 6-66, Hughes 2-20, D'Orazio 2-17, Shafer 1-13