Minster Shuts Down Versailles 32-0

By Bruce Monnin

VERSAILLES — The senior led defense of the Minster Wildcats set the tone early in a 32-0 win over the Versailles Tigers. Minster held Versailles to just three first downs and 48 yards in the first half, and it didn’t get much better for the Tigers until after the running clock came into effect late in the third quarter.

The Wildcats turned senior linebackers August Boehnlein and Jack Heitbrink loose to blitz the Tiger offense, and they harassed Versailles all night. Besides numerous hurries and disruptions, Boehnlein registered two tackles in the backfield and Heitbrink earned a sack in the first half. Meanwhile, in addition to breaking up two passes, senior Mike Ketner also caught seven Jacob Niemeyer passes for 79 yards in the opening half as Minster built an early 18-0 lead.

“Our practices have improved again,” explained Wildcat coach Geron Stokes. “They are attacking practice instead of just going through the motions. That is driven by our seniors, which, at this time of the year, is the way it is supposed to be. I love watching kids being rewarded for being really good kids and working really hard. I just think that is part of how life works.”

Minster opened the scoring on their second possession. Starting at midfield, their five-play drive was capped by an Alex Schmitmeyer 29-yard run through the heart of the Tiger defense. The next five series resulted in punts, before the Wildcat offense scored again. This time it was a methodical eight play drive which ended in a 12-yard pass from Niemeyer to Boehnlein to increase the lead to 12-0.

Minster had a final possession in the final two minutes of the half. The drive featured seven completions, the last one a four-yard scoring toss from Niemeyer to Heitbrink with just 11 seconds remaining before intermission.

Versailles came out of the locker room and put together their best drive of the night. They reached the Minster 24 yard and faced a fourth down and four yards to go. The Wildcat defense held Ryan Martin one yard short on his quarterback scramble, and the only Tiger threat of the game was ended.

Two plays later, Schmitmeyer took off around the left end, tiptoed along the sidelines as he fought off Versailles tacklers, then outran the lot for a 79-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 25-0. After a partially blocked punt gave Minster the ball back at the Versailles 33-yard line, Niemeyer connected with Brendan Bornhorst for his first catch of the season, a 33-yard touchdown strike which provided the final 32-0 score and set the running clock in motion.

Schmitmeyer’s two scoring jaunts provided much of the 166 yards his 18 carriers amassed on the night. Niemeyer added in 169 yards passing on 15 completions in 21 attempts.

Next week Friday, the 6-3 Wildcats will return home to face 6-3 New Bremen. 2-7 Versailles will finish their season on the road at 3-6 Fort Recovery.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 6 12 14 0 32

Versailles 0 0 0 0 0

First Quarter:

MIN – Alex Schmitmeyer 29 yd run (kick failed), 5:16

Second Quarter:

MIN – August Boehnlein 12 yd pass from Jacob Niemeyer (kick failed), 3:13

MIN – Jack Heitbrink 4 yd pass from Jacob Niemeyer (kick failed), 0:11

Third Quarter:

MIN – Alex Schmitmeyer 79 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 5:23

MIN – Brendan Bornhorst 33 yd pass from Jacob Niemeyer (Bryan Falk kick), 4:12

Team statistics MIN VER

First downs 16 10

Rushes - yards 29-214 27-72

Passing yards 169 83

Comp - att - int 15-21-0 12-26-1

Total yards 383 155

Punts - average 3-37.3 6-29.0

Fumbles - lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties - yards 4-29 3-32

Time of possession 22:56 25:04

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Schmitmeyer 18-166, Miller 7-34, Niemeyer 3-12, Ketner 1-2; Versailles, Martin 12-40, Poling 9-12, Trump 2-10, Osbourne 2-6, Wagner 2-4

Passing: Minster, Niemeyer 15-21-0-169; Versailles, Martin 12-24-1-83, Bruns 0-2-0-0

Receiving: Minster, Ketner 7-79, Heitbrink 3-17, Frericks 2-27, Bornhorst 1-33, Boehnlein 1-12, Schmitmeyer 1-12; Versailles, Stammen 8-57, Poling 2-9, DeMange 1-9, McEldowney 1-8