Minster “Bend but Don’t Break” Defense Powers 35-14 Win Over Delphos St. John’s

By Bruce Monnin

DELPHOS — The Minster Wildcats struggled early against the Delphos St. John’s Blue Jays, giving up several long drives. However, the defense came up with big plays when they were needed, allowing the offense the chances needed to score five touchdowns in a 35-14 victory.

“I thought our kids played a little harder and a little more physical this week,” commented Minster coach Geron Stokes. “I saw some growth. We had a great week of practice. If we keep putting those great weeks of practice together, we’ll be alright.”

The Blue Jays penetrated the Wildcat 30-yard line seven times on the evening, but only converted two of those opportunities into scores. The Minster defense stopped them on downs three times and forced fumbles to end the other two threats.

“Our philosophy is that we are going to give you some stuff,” admitted Stokes. “You have to take it and then execute some stuff in the red zone.”

The first quarter was a scoreless affair with St. John’s twice reaching Minster territory without scoring. The Wildcats then forced a fumble near midfield late in the first quarter and used 13 plays to drive for their opening score. Brock Miller’s seventh rush of the drive scored from one yard out to procure a 7-0 lead.

On the Blue Jays’ next play, Curtis Schwinnen broke free for a 73-yard run to the Minster four-yard line. Jared Wurst completed the drive to tie the game at 7-7. The Wildcats also wasted no time on their ensuing possession, as on their third snap Jacob Niemeyer lofted a pass 45 yards into the wind to Mike Ketner for a go ahead score.

The Blue Jays tried to answer again, driving all the way to the Minster 25-yard line before the Wildcat defense achieved a fourth down stop. Minster then gave the ball right back on a Schwinnen interception, and this time St. John’s cashed in on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Jared Wurst to Schwinnen with 1:02 remaining in the half.

That was just enough time for the Wildcats, as Niemeyer completed 8 passes before halftime, including a 19-yard strike to Cody Frericks in the end zone as time expired, giving Minster a 21-14 halftime lead.

After both teams were stymied on their opening possessions of the second half, the Wildcats used a 26-yard Alex Schmitmeyer run and two passes to Jack Heitbrink to set up a 10-yard Miller touchdown run, increasing the lead to 28-14.

The Blue Jays attempted to answer, driving to the Minster eight-yard line. The Minster defense forced another fumble, then the Wildcat offense put the game away with a methodical 14-play, 93-yard drive. Miller scored his third touchdown of the night on a one-yard plunge to provide the final 35-15 score.

Miller was Minster’s leading rusher with 107 yards on 20 carries. Alex Schmitmeyer returned from missing a week with injury to add another 78 yards on just 10 carries.

“We feel like we have two good backs that can go in and play,” noted Stokes. “We’re excited about that.”

Niemeyer added another 81 yards on the ground with his six carries, and also completed 16 of 27 pass attempts for 187 more yards.

With the win, Minster improves to 5-1 for the season (3-1 in MAC play). The Wildcats go on the road next week in a huge MAC matchup against 4-2 St. Henry. Delphos St. John’s falls to 1-5 (0-4 MAC). Their schedule gets no easier as they will next host 6-0 Coldwater.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 0 21 7 7 35

Delphos St. John’s 0 14 0 0 14

Second Quarter:

MIN – Brock Miller 1 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 10:29

DSJ – Jared Wurst 4 yd run (Mark Wrasman kick), 9:46

MIN – Mike Ketner 45 yd pass from Jacob Niemeyer (Bryan Falk kick), 8:28

DSJ – Curtis Schwinnen 26 yd pass from Jared Wurst (Mark Wrasman kick), 1:09

MIN – Cody Frericks 19 yd pass from Jacob Niemeyer (Bryan Falk kick), 0:00

Third Quarter:

MIN – Brock Miller 10 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 7:25

Fourth Quarter:

MIN – Brock Miller 1 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 9:02

Team statistics MIN DSJ

First downs 24 13

Rushes – yards 36-266 32-199

Passing yards 187 143

Comp - att – int 16-27-2 10-18-0

Total yards 453 342

Punts – average 1-34.0 1-33.0

Fumbles – lost 1-1 3-3

Penalties – yards 4-35 1-5

Time of possession 23:35 24:25

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Miller 20-107, Niemeyer 6-81, Schmitmeyer 10-78; Delphos St. John’s, Wurst 29-118, Schwinnen 1-73, Brown 1-4, Lindeman 1-4

Passing: Minster, Niemeyer 16-27-2-187; Delphos St. John’s, Wurst 10-18-0-143

Receiving: Minster, Heitbrink 5-34, Ketner 4-75, Schmitmeyer 3-34, Frericks 2-24, Boehnlein 2-20; Delphos St. John’s, Schwinnen 6-72, Parrish 2-45, Lindeman 1-15, Metcalfe 1-11