Minster Dominates Early in 39-7 Win over Parkway

by Bruce Monnin

ROCKFORD — After a disappointing loss to Coldwater last week, the Minster Wildcats felt they needed to improve on all aspects of their game. Minster used a dominating running game early, followed by an effective passing attack later in the half and good defense throughout to defeat the Parkway Panthers 39-7.

“We want to be able to do everything” said Wildcat coach Geron Stokes. “We want to run the ball when we want to run it and throw the ball when we want to throw it, and that’s going to take everybody getting better. We wanted to see that.”

Minster’s opening possession featured Alex Schmitmeyer, who carried the ball both times for 52 yards including a 35-yard touchdown run. Schmitmeyer would end up with 99 yards rushing in the first quarter alone and 168 yards for the game.

Late in the first quarter Minster turned to the passing game as Jacob Niemeyer completed 5 passes in the series. He capped the drive with a 14-yard completion to Bryan Falk to give Minster a 12-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Wildcats wasted no time in their opening drive of the second quarter. Niemeyer faked a handoff and took of for an 88-yard touchdown run to increase the lead to 18-0.

After a Parkway fumble, Niemeyer this time found Trent Roetgerman for a 17-yard scoring toss upping the margin to 25.

The Panthers responded with their best drive of the night. They used 13 plays and over eight minutes to drive to the Minster two-yard line where the Wildcat defense stiffened and made the stop on a fourth down run by Jason Luth.

In a major change of momentum, Niemeyer found Roetgerman for a school record 98-yard touchdown pass to make the score 32-0. This broke the previous record of 94 yards held by Troy Kauffman in the 2012 Sidney Lehman game.

The 32-point lead meant the running clock was in effect for the second half. The Wildcats increased the lead to 39-0 in their opening drive with Schmitmeyer scoring from nine yards out.

Parkway would answer in the fourth quarter when Liam Ferroggiaro shredded the Minster defense with a 43-yard run.

Minster ended the night with 477 yards of total offense. Niemeyer completed 10 of 12 passes for 212 yards. Roetgerman was the leading receiver with 5 catches for 153 yards. Schmitmeyer led all rushers with 168 yards on 16 carries.

The win improves Minster’s record to 4-1 (2-1 in the MAC). The Wildcats return home for an Oktoberfest special against 1-3 Delphos St. John’s next week. The 2-3 Panthers (0-3 in the MAC) travel to face 1-4 Fort Recovery.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 12 20 7 0 39

Parkway 0 0 0 7 7

First Quarter:

MIN – Alex Schmitmeyer 35 yd run (Bryan Falk Kick Failed), 9:28

MIN – Bryan Falk 14 yd pass from Jacob Niemeyer (Bryan Falk Kick Failed), 0:17

Second Quarter:

MIN – Jacob Niemeyer 88 yd run (Bryan Falk Kick Failed), 10:25

MIN – Trent Roetergman 17 yd pass from Jacob Niemeyer (Bryan Falk kick), 9:34

MIN – Trent Roetergman 98 yd pass from Jacob Niemeyer (Bryan Falk kick), 0:58

Third Quarter:

MIN – Alex Schmitmeyer 9 yd (Bryan Falk kick), 1:43

Fourth Quarter:

PW – Liam Ferroggiaro 43 yd run (Corey Walls kick), 2:59

Team statistics MIN PW

First downs 18 8

Rushes - yards 25-265 28-132

Passing yards 212 71

Comp - att - int 12-10-0 17-10-0

Total yards 477 203

Punts - average 2-48.0 5-44.2

Fumbles - lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties - yards 5-47 3-30

Time of possession 22:09 25:51

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Schmitmeyer 16-168, Niemeyer 2-83, Wuebker 1-7, Wellman 4-7, Miller 2-0; Parkway, Ferroggiaro 2-52, Hawk 9-39, Luth 9-24, Rich 8-17

Passing: Minster, Niemeyer 10-12-0-212; Parkway, Rich 10-17-0-71

Receiving: Minster, Roetgerman 5-153, Falk 2-24, Smith 2-22, Ripploh 1-13; Parkway, Kinney 4-32, Felver 2-17, Hawk 2-14, Walls 1-5, Luth 1-3