Crestview Earns Revenge on Minster, 28-14

By Bruce Monnin

WAPAKONETA — Last season, the closest call for the Minster Wildcats on their state championship run was a second round 35-32 win over the Crestview Knights. This year the teams met in a second-round rematch, and after the teams played the first half to a 14-14 draw, Crestview won the second stanza and earned their revenge with a 28-14 victory.

“Both teams started off hard. I think we were able to wear on them a little bit and get our running game going,” stated Crestview coach Jared Owens. “I thought tonight that we were the more physical team, and that was the difference in the game.”

“What an awesome game! Both teams’ efforts were awesome,” summarized Minster coach Geron Stokes. “Our kids are so awesome, though. We became a team this year. It was just an awesome, fun game for both sides. Somebody had to lose.”

The game started off well for the Wildcats. After forcing a punt on the Knights’ opening possession, Minster handed the ball off to Alex Schmitmeyer eight times on what appeared to be the same play. Schmitmeyer gained 56 of the 80 yards he would accumulate in the game, including a five-yard scoring run to give the Wildcats an early 7-0 lead. However, Minster would only earn another 60 yards on the ground the rest of the game.

“We decided to make a couple of adjustments with the way we were playing defensively, from how aggressive we were being,” explained Owens. “We had to actually back the guys down just a little bit. That way they could see things in front of them and fill the gaps. What a great adjustment by our defensive coordinator.”

Crestview immediately responded, mixing passes and runs by quarterback Drew Kline to drive to the Wildcat one-yard line, where Brody Brecht finished off the possession with a touchdown run. Brecht also ran for a two-point conversion to give the Knights an 8-7 lead after one quarter.

Minster had an opportunity to open the second quarter but failed to convert a fourth down and two running play near midfield. Two drives later, Crestview drove 57 yards, mostly through the air, to set up a two-yard Brecht scoring run. Trent Roetgerman intercepted the two point try to hold the Knights to a 14-7 lead.

Minster responded just before halftime, starting a drive with a 20-yard pass from Jacob Niemeyer to August Boehnlein. After that it was seven more rushes by Schmitmeyer, concluding with a four-yard run to even the score at 14 apiece.

The Wildcats’ offense would be stymied in the second half, gaining only 73 yards and scoring no points. Crestview totally shut down the Minster running game.

“What great execution in the second half by our defense,” concluded Owens. “Football is won up front. Period. You need good quarterbacks, and you need good skill guys, but football is won up front, and our guys played their butts off tonight.”

The Wildcats received the opening kickoff but were forced to punt. Wade Sheets fielded the kick at his 11-yard line, sliced through the middle of the Minster coverage team, then took off down the left sideline for an 89-yard touchdown. A pass to Brecht for the two-point conversion gave the Knights a 22-14 lead.

“We’re not supposed to kick to #3 (Sheets), and the ball goes to him and he goes and scores,” lamented Stokes. “That’s how it goes. The last couple of years we’ve gotten those breaks and made those plays. This year we just didn’t. It wasn’t like we weren’t trying to. Sheets and Klein just went out and made plays.”

Crestview threatened again in the third quarter when Sheets won a jump ball against Mike Ketner for a 43-yard gain. The Knights were slowed by a fumble and two holding penalties which helped the Wildcat defense hold on downs.

Early in the final period, a 40-yard run by Kline brought the ball deep into Minster territory. Several plays later, on a fourth down from the three-yard line, Kline pulled off another of his trademark plays. He dropped back to pass, scrambled back to the 25-yard line, then threaded his way back through the Wildcat defense for the game clinching touchdown.

“#10 (Kline) is unbelievable,” added Stokes.

Minster turned to their passing game to try to engineer a comeback, but both of their final drives were ended with Kline interceptions.

Schmitmeyer was the leading rusher for Minster, compiling 80 yards on 23 carries, with only one of those yards coming in the second half. Niemeyer added 83 yards passing.

Kline dominated the stats for Crestview, running for 98 yards on 18 carries, while also completing 14 of 21 passes for 181 yards.

Minster ends their season with a final record of 8-4. 11-1 Crestview will play 11-1 Fort Loramie next week for the Region 28 championship.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Crestview 8 6 8 6 28

Minster 7 7 0 0 14

First Quarter:

MIN – Alex Schmitmeyer 5 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 6:30

CRE – Brody Brecht 1 yd run (Brody Brecht run), 1:40

Second Quarter:

CRE – Brody Brecht 2 yd run (pass broken up by Trent Roetgerman), 4:38

MIN – Alex Schmitmeyer 4 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 0:55

Third Quarter:

CRE – Wade Sheets 89 yd punt return (Brody Brecht pass from Drew Kline), 10:37

Fourth Quarter:

CRE – Drew Kline 3 yd run (pass intercepted by Trent Roetgerman), 6:30

Team statistics CRE MIN

First downs 14 12

Rushes - yards 33-142 32-116

Passing yards 181 83

Comp - att - int 14-21-0 7-16-2

Total yards 323 199

Punts - average 5-30.4 5-37.4

Fumbles - lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties - yards 8-66 4-27

Time of possession 28:04 19:56

Individual statistics

Rushing: Crestview, Klein 18-98, Brecht 11-26, Sheets 3-13, Dealey 1-5; Minster, Schmitmeyer 23-80, Niemeyer 9-36

Passing: Crestview, Klein 14-21-0-181; Minster, Niemeyer 7-15-1-83, Schmitmeyer 0-1-1-0

Receiving: Crestview, Sheets 7-94, Painter 3-32, Brecht 3-28, Dealey 1-27; Minster, Boehnlein 2-24, Brown 2-16, Schmitmeyer 1-20, Ketner 1-14, Frericks 1-9