Minster Makes Enough Plays for 34-14 Victory over Fort Loramie

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — Though this is only the start of Geron Stokes’ sixth year at the helm of the Minster Wildcats, it is already the eighth time his teams have faced the Fort Loramie Redskins. Though Minster had won the last six matchups, this was the first game against new Fort Loramie coach Spencer Wells.

But the result looked similar to recent matchups between the two teams, with Minster pulling away to a 34-14 season opening victory.

Of course, Wildcat coach Geron Stokes was far from satisfied with the result. “I was happy that we made enough plays. But we weren’t consistently good at any spot. We made a ton of mistakes, but we made enough plays, which is good to see. We have to get a lot better.”

Minster took the early lead on their opening possession. After five rushing plays and an incomplete pass, quarterback Jacob Niemeyer unleashed a deep ball to Cody Frericks, who slipped his defender and scored on the 57-yard play for a 7-0 lead.

After no one scored during the next five possessions of the game, the Wildcats went back to the deep ball. This time Niemeyer found Trent Roetgerman for a 41-yard strike which increased the lead to 14-0.

Following a Joe Winner interception and 24-yard return of a Redskin pass, Minster posted their third touchdown of the half on an Alex Schmitmeyer eight-yard run. It appeared the Wildcats would take a 20-point lead into intermission, but Fort Loramie capped a 76-yard drive with a four-yard scoring pass from Collin Moore to Mason Kemper with six seconds remaining in the half, making the score 20-7.

Minster regained the momentum on their opening possession of the second half. A few plays after a Niemeyer 53-yard run, the junior signal caller connected with August Boehnlein for a two-yard score to open up a 27-7 lead.

Fort Loramie would score one last time on a Carter Mescher 24-yard run later in the third quarter, and the Wildcats would add a fourth quarter 31-yard rushing touchdown by Alex Schmitmeyer to produce the final 34-14 score.

Besides the usual opening game concerns, Minster had the additional worry of starting a freshman, Alex Frimel, at center in their shotgun offense. “I was really worried,” admitted Stokes. “For a freshman, he was okay. He’s a worker, though. He’s a kid you can trust to get better because of his work ethic.”

Wildcat quarterback Niemeyer had an efficient night, connecting with six different receivers to complete 9 out of 12 passes for 183 yards and three touchdowns. Schmitmeyer added 107 yards on 20 carries while scoring the other two touchdowns.

The victory increases Minster’s advantage in this series to 13-4. Next week Friday 1-0 Minster has its home opener against 0-1 Covington while 0-1 Fort Loramie travels to face 1-0 Cincinnati Madeira.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 7 13 7 7 34

Fort Loramie 0 7 7 0 14

First Quarter:

MIN – Cody Frericks 57 yd pass from Jacob Niemeyer (Bryan Falk kick), 5:29

Second Quarter:

MIN – Trent Roetgerman 41 yd pass from Jacob Niemeyer (Bryan Falk kick), 6:05

MIN – Alex Schmitmeyer 8 yd run (kick failed), 2:58

FL – Mason Kemper 4 yd pass from Collin Moore (Beltran Lafarga kick), 0:06

Third Quarter:

MIN – August Boehnlein 2 yd pass from Jacob Niemeyer (Bryan Falk kick), 7:34

FL – Carter Mescher 24 yd run (Collin Moore kick), 4:43

Fourth Quarter:

MIN – Alex Schmitmeyer 31 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 4:06

Team statistics MIN FL

First downs 14 15

Rushes - yards 33-199 29-118

Passing yards 183 192

Comp - att - int 9-12-1 23-37-1

Total yards 382 310

Punts - average 2-34.0 5-29.6

Fumbles - lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties - yards 6-30 4-30

Time of possession 25:03 22:57

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Schmitmeyer 20-107, Niemeyer 10-81, Heitbrink 3-11; Fort Loramie, Brandewie 16-51, Mescher 3-49, Moore 10-18

Passing: Minster, Niemeyer 9-12-1-183; Fort Loramie, Moore 22-36-1-157, Brandewie 1-1-0-35

Receiving: Minster, Roetgerman 2-59, Schmitmeyer 2-20, Boehnlein 2-14, Frericks 1-57, Ketner 1-23; Fort Loramie, Mescher 8-83, Kemper 8-36, Barhorst 5-56, Billing 1-13, Brandewie 1-4