Big Plays Key Minster 42-20 Victory over Versailles

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — Big plays were the theme of the night in the Minster Wildcats 42-20 victory over the Versailles Tigers. Minster’s first five scoring plays averaged over 53 yards in length as the Wildcats repeatedly opened large holes for quarterback Jacob Niemeyer or his receivers to run through.

Minster scored twice in the first quarter. The first was on a 46-yard Niemeyer run. The second time, Niemeyer needed to go 56 yards for the early 14-0 Wildcat lead.

Versailles threatened late in the opening period after Ryan Martin completed a 39-yard pass to Jared DeMange to reach the Minster three-yard line. But the Wildcat defense allowed no yards on the next four plays and took over on downs.

With their back to the goal line, Alex Schmitmeyer immediately broke a 44-yard run to near midfield. Four plays later, Niemeyer connected with Trent Roetgerman for a deep 38-yard scoring toss to increase the lead to 21-0.

With the game threatening to turn into a rout, the Tigers responded with a 12 play, 72-yard scoring drive. On fourth down and eight to go from the Minster 12-yard line, Martin again connected with DeMange, this time for a 12-yard touchdown. A blocked extra point by Kyle Riethman left the score 21-6 at the half.

The Wildcats received the second half kickoff and needed only three plays to score again. This time it was a wide receiver screen to Roetgerman, who sliced through the Versailles defense for a 63-yard dash to paydirt. Another Bryan Falk extra point expanded the lead to 28-6.

After both teams suffered two empty possessions, the scoring picked up again in the fourth quarter. Once again, the Tigers had a sustained 14 play drive, with Martin pushing the ball into the end zone from two yards out.

As usual, Minster responded much quicker. A three-play drive was capped by a Niemeyer 63-yard run to make the score 35-12.

After the defense stopped Versailles on a fourth down, the Wildcats used six running plays to expand the lead to 42-12. Alex Schmitmeyer scored from a relatively dull two yards out to start the running clock in motion with 1:38 remaining in the game.

The Tigers’ Jack Osbourne would have none of that, as his 53-yard touchdown run around the left end of the line stopped the running clock and provided the final score of 42-20.

Niemeyer gained 184 yards and three touchdowns on just eight running attempts. Schmitmeyer added another 164 yards on the ground and a touchdown on 23 carries. Niemeyer also provided 205 yards passing and two more touchdowns on 11 completions in 16 attempts. Roetgerman was his favorite receiver, gaining 152 yards and two touchdowns on just four receptions.

Osbourne led Versailles with 75 yards and a score on 8 carries. Martin completed 17 of 30 passes for 190 yards, with DeMange catching 11 of those passes for 155 yards and one touchdown.

One odd statistic on the night showed Minster get penalized 10 times for 88 yards, while Versailles did not commit an infraction on the evening.

“We are playing hard,” stated Wildcat coach Geron Stokes. “From an execution standpoint we didn’t tackle well, and we had dumb penalties. That’s uncharacteristic, and I hope it doesn’t become a theme. But we are playing hard and that’s a credit to our kids. Our guys did a good job of executing a handful of plays.”

Next week Friday, the 8-1 Wildcats will travel to face 7-2 New Bremen in a game with all kinds of playoff and league implications. 3-6 Versailles will finish their season at home against 3-6 Fort Recovery.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 14 7 7 14 42

Versailles 0 6 0 14 20

First Quarter:

MIN – Jacob Niemeyer 46 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 9:00

MIN – Jacob Niemeyer 56 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 4:36

Second Quarter:

MIN – Trent Roetgerman 38 yd pass from Jacob Niemeyer (Bryan Falk kick), 11:37

VER – Jared DeMange 12 yd pass from Ryan Martin (kick blocked), 5:35

Third Quarter:

MIN – Trent Roetgerman 63 yd pass from Jacob Niemeyer (Bryan Falk kick), 11:15

Fourth Quarter:

VER – Ryan Martin 2 yd run (pass failed), 7:39

MIN – Jacob Niemeyer 63 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 6:27

MIN – Alex Schmitmeyer 2 yd run (Bryan Falk kick), 1:38

VER – Jack Osbourne 53 yd run (Titus Gehret run), 0:28

Team statistics MIN VER

First downs 19 20

Rushes - yards 31-348 35-133

Passing yards 205 190

Comp - att - int 11-16-0 17-30-0

Total yards 553 323

Punts - average 0-0.0 2-32.5

Fumbles - lost 0-0 3-2

Penalties - yards 10-88 0-0

Time of possession 18:00 30:00

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Niemeyer 8-184, Schmitmeyer 23-164; Versailles, Osbourne 8-75, Martin 11-40, Gehret 6-11, Kremer 2-6, Henry 8-1

Passing: Minster, Niemeyer 11-16-0-205; Versailles, Martin 17-30-0-190

Receiving: Minster, Roetgerman 4-152, Bornhorst 4-32, Falk 3-21; Versailles, DeMange 11-155, Kremer 2-23, Osbourne 2-4, Kaiser 1-5, Henry 1-3