Coldwater Wins Battle of Top Ranked Teams, 38-20

by Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — The top ranked team in division six, the Coldwater Cavaliers, traveled to face off against the fifth ranked Minster Wildcats in an early season battle for potential MAC supremacy. The Cavaliers jumped out to an early 12-0 lead and then added 13 more points in a wild end to the first half. They held on to the lead for the rest of the game for a 38-20 victory.

Coldwater received the opening kickoff and dissected the Minster defense for a 7 play, 74-yard drive. The drive was capped by a two-yard Jake Hemmelgarn touchdown run. The Cavalier defense also started fast, holding Minster to zero yards on their first drive.

Starting at their own 30-yard line, this time the Cavaliers needed 11 plays before reaching pay dirt. Myles Blasingame’s two-yard touchdown run expanded the lead to 12-0.

“We’ve gotten off to really good starts all four games,” stated Coldwater coach Chip Otten. “We have really mature seniors and really good juniors who are helping those seniors. The seniors are a bunch of smart guys who get it and practice well. They were ready, we have a really good staff and we get them ready.”

Coldwater appeared ready to expand the lead early in the second quarter when the Minster defense stiffened and stopped the Cavaliers 1 yard short of the first down on the eight-yard line. This seemed to spark the Wildcat offense as they used 17 plays to drive 92 yards. Alex Schmitmeyer ran the final eight yards for the score and after the extra point, Coldwater’s lead was trimmed to 12-7.

With only 1:43 left in the half, it appeared Minster had all the momentum, but Coldwater was not yet done. On the ensuing kick-off, Zach McKibben used the holes created by his blockers to weave through the Minster coverage for a 92-yard touchdown.

“You don’t have to block them too long when McKibben is back there,” added Otten. “He has got some, what I call it, given ‘em juice. Since Brody Hoying, he’s the quickest most explosive guy we’ve had.”

Minster tried to put up one last score before halftime, but Coldwater forced and recovered a Minster fumble near midfield. The Cavaliers turned to the passing game and Jake Hemmelgarn connected with Will Broering for a two-yard touchdown just before halftime. It was 25-7 at the break.

On the first drive of the third quarter, Minster cut the deficit to 25-14 on a Jacob Niemeyer four-yard run. The Cavaliers twice reached into Minster territory only to be intercepted each time, once by Cody Richard and the second time by Brendan Bornhorst.

Early in the fourth quarter, Coldwater finally reached the endzone again, this time on a seven-yard pass from Hemmelgarn to Broering. On their next possession, the Cavaliers ended all doubt on a 56-yard Hemmelgarn scoring run to make the score 38-14. Minster’s Alex Schmitmeyer added a late one-yard touchdown run to provide the final 38-20 score.

Hemmelgarn was the statistical star of the night. Not only did he complete 18 of 25 passes for 237 yards, and two touchdowns, but he also ran the ball 17 times for another 151 yards and two more scores.

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

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Coldwater 12 13 0 13 38

Minster 0 7 7 6 20

First Quarter:

CW – Jake Hemmelgarn 2 yd run (kick failed), 9:42

CW – Myles Blasingame 2 yd run (pass failed), 2:09

Second Quarter:

MIN – Alex Schmitmeyer 8 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 1:43

CW – Zach McKibben 92 yd kickoff return (pass failed), 1:25

CW – Will Broering 2 yd pass from Jake Hemmelgarn (Blake Dippold kick), 0:08

Third Quarter:

MIN – Jacob Niemeyer 4 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 7:45

Fourth Quarter:

CW – Will Broering 7 yd pass from Jake Hemmelgarn (kick failed), 8:35

CW – Jake Hemmelgarn 56 yd run (Blake Dippold kick), 5:12

MIN – Alex Schmitmeyer 1 yd run (run failed), 2:55

Team statistics CW MIN

First downs 17 17

Rushes - yards 34-212 39-149

Passing yards 237 114

Comp - att - int 18-25-2 13-17-0

Total yards 449 263

Punts - average 0-0.0 3-37.0

Fumbles - lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties - yards 3-34 2-20

Time of possession 25:57 22:03

Individual statistics

Rushing: Coldwater, Hemmelgarn 17-151, Blasingame 8-22, Grieshop 3-16, Knapke 1-9, Fullenkamp 2-9, McKibben 1-6, Ontrop 1-2, Weigel 1-minus 3; Minster, Schmitmeyer 21-90, Niemeyer 18-59

Passing: Coldwater, Hemmelgarn 18-25-2-237; Minster, Niemeyer 13-17-0-114

Receiving: Coldwater, McKibben 6-73, Broering 4-60, Miller 3-63, Weigel 3-27, Post 1-11, Grieshop 1-3; Minster, Falk 5-35, Roetgerman 4-48, Schmitmeyer 2-21, Ripploh 2-10