Coldwater Wins Battle of Top Ranked Teams, 31-20

By Bruce Monnin

COLDWATER — It is a rare occurrence for two of the seven top ranked teams in the state to face each other on the football field. It happened in Coldwater Friday night, and the Cavaliers used four touchdowns in a 12-minute stretch of the first half to claim a 31-20 victory over the Minster Wildcats.

“It was about what we thought it would be, a good four quarter back and forth battle,” stated Coldwater coach Chip Otten. “Our first two games of the year were against really good teams, and we asked the fellas if they could do it again. Of course, they said ‘Yes’. They proved it again, as three of our four games have been tough.”

Minster received the opening kickoff and looked unstoppable, needing only six plays to go 69 yards. Alex Schmitmeyer ran for the final five yards to give the Wildcats the early 7-0 lead.

Coldwater responded by dominating the next twelve minutes of play. The Cavaliers only needed eight plays on their opening drive, culminating with an 11-yard pass from Jake Hemmelgarn to Mitch Niekamp to tie the score. After a Minster punt, Coldwater only needed four plays to claim the 14-7 lead. This time the score came on a 35-yard Hemmelgarn pass, which both defender Noah Enneking and receiver Cole Frilling tipped the ball into the air. Frilling secured the ball on its way back down for the final score of the first quarter.

The Cavaliers next drive was stopped by a Mike Ketner interception. The Wildcats failed to capitalize, and Coldwater’s next time with ball ended with a short pass from Hemmelgarn to Niekamp, who broke several tackles to go 42 yards into the end zone.

Not yet done for the half, Miles Blasingame forced a Minster fumble and then the Cavaliers needed only two plays to go cover the 28 yards remaining. This time Hemmelgarn found Frilling again for a 16-yard strike to make the score 28-7.

Just when it appeared the game could get out of hand, Minster rallied for a 60-yard scoring drive before half. After a 47-yard pass from Jacob Niemeyer to Austin Brown, Schmitmeyer finished off the drive with a one-yard touchdown run to make the halftime score 28-13. The Cavaliers had one more chance to extend the lead before intermission, but a 28-yard field goal missed wide left as the clock hit 0:00.

Both teams reached deep into the other teams’ territory in the third quarter, but neither team could score. The Wildcats had a big play early in the final period when Trent Roetgerman forced a Coldwater fumble, which Mike Ketner scooped up and returned 61 yards for a touchdown, reducing the Minster deficit to 28-20.

The Cavaliers responded as top ranked teams tend to do. They put together an 18-play, 69-yard drive which took over seven minutes off the clock. A 25-yard Blake Dippold field goal sealed the 31-20 win.

Throughout the game, Coldwater quarterback Hemmelgarn peppered the Minster defense with short accurate passes and refused to be tackled on numerous quarterback draw plays. He completed 22 of 29 passes on the night for 245 yards and four touchdowns, while also rushing the ball 21 times for 140 yards.

“That’s incredible for a guy who is 145 pounds,” added Otten. “He is smart and patient back there. He doesn’t panic. He sold the quarterback draw like it was a pass.”

“We have to be better in all aspects,” lamented Minster coach Geron Stokes. “I thought we played hard tonight, but just not well enough. I have to do a better job of getting us to surrender to each other.”

Coldwater, now 4-0, travels to face the 2-2 Fort Recovery Indians next week. 3-1 Minster returns home to face the 1-3 Parkway Panthers.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Coldwater 14 14 0 3 31

Minster 7 6 0 7 20

First Quarter:

MIN – Alex Schmitmeyer 5 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 9:14

CW – Mitch Niekamp 11 yd pass from Jake Hemmelgarn (Blake Dippold kick), 5:42

CW – Cole Frilling 35 yd pass from Jake Hemmelgarn (Blake Dippold kick), 2:11

Second Quarter:

CW – Mitch Niekamp 42 yd pass from Jake Hemmelgarn (Blake Dippold kick), 6:13

CW – Cole Frilling 16 yd pass from Jake Hemmelgarn (Blake Dippold kick), 5:25

MIN – Alex Schmitmeyer 1 yd run (kick failed), 3:28

Fourth Quarter:

MIN – Mike Ketner 61 yd fumble return (Bryan Falk kick), 8:53

CW – Blake Dippold 25 yd field goal, 1:38

Team statistics CW MIN

First downs 26 11

Rushes - yards 40-217 26-118

Passing yards 245 145

Comp - att - int 22-29-2 10-20-0

Total yards 462 263

Punts - average 1-33.0 4-25.5

Fumbles - lost 1-1 1-1

Penalties - yards 2-10 2-23

Time of possession 28:15 19:45

Individual statistics

Rushing: Coldwater, Hemmelgarn 21-140, Niekamp 9-39, Wenning 9-38, May 1-0; Minster, Schmitmeyer 14-59, Niemeyer 12-59

Passing: Coldwater, Hemmelgarn 22-29-2-245; Minster, Niemeyer 10-20-0-145

Receiving: Coldwater, Frilling 8-86, Niekamp 5-89, Broering 4-37, Wenning 2-13, May 1-8; Minster, Frericks 3-40, Brown 2-67, Boehnlein 2-1, Heitbrink 1-21, Ketner 1-9, Schmitmeyer 1-7