Frankfort Adena Defeats Short Handed Cats 28-0

By Bruce Monnin

FRANKFORT — The Minster Wildcats found out last Sunday that they would be playing their playoff game against the Frankfort Adena Warriors without the services of their first and second strings quarterbacks. The Minster coaching staff attempted a unique solution, having Conner Albers, Adam Ketner, Phil Trzaska and Austin Wellman all play the position, rarely for more than one play at a time.

The result? “Long night,” said Wildcat coach Geron Stokes.

The Minster offense reached Frankfort Adena territory five times on the night but could never score as they tallied only 103 total yards while the Warriors compiled 451 yards on offense and took advantage of their four scoring opportunities in a 28-0 win.

“Those were our third, fourth, fifth and sixth quarterbacks tonight,” confirmed Stokes. “They all swung. That was cool. We don’t rep our third, fourth, fifth and sixth quarterbacks, so that was all brand new. Our guys did a good job competing, but with the situation we were in, we had to make some plays, and we didn’t. Credit to them, they were physical. They were good.”

Minster had the first real scoring opportunity on the night, as an Albers 33-yard run brought the ball inside the Adena 20-yard line. However, they could go no further and turned the ball over on downs.

At the end of the first quarter the game was scoreless, and the Warriors were stuck deep in their own territory. On the initial play of the second stanza, Nate Throckmorton broke through the left side of the Wildcat defense for an 89-yard score. A more sustained eight play drive at the end of the half gave Adena a 14-0 lead.

The Warriors received the second half kickoff and iced the game with another eight-play scoring drive. With under two minutes remaining in the game, Preston Sykes ran for his third touchdown of the night for the final 28-0 score.

The Wildcat offense was only able to run eleven second-half plays and lost a net 17 yards in the half.

Ketner completed 7 of 14 passes for 42 yards for the Wildcats. Wellman led the Minster rushers with 48 yards on just two carries. The loss ends Minster’s playoff run with a record of 3-6. The Wildcats are eligible to play one more regular season game.

“We’re going to try to play next week,” said Stokes. “Our seniors deserve to go out on their shield.”

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Frankfort Adena 0 14 6 8 28

Minster 0 0 0 0 0

Second Quarter:

FA – Nate Throckmorton 89 yd run (Preston Sykes run), 11:46

FA – Preston Sykes 5 yd run (pass failed), 0:35

Third Quarter:

FA – Preston Sykes 12 yd run (run failed), 6:43

Fourth Quarter:

FA – Preston Sykes 8 yd run (Logan Bennett pass from Preston Sykes), 4:31

Team statistics FA MIN

First downs 18 4

Rushes - yards 41-262 20-61

Passing yards 189 42

Comp - att - int 10-15-0 7-14-1

Total yards 451 103

Punts - average 2-38.5 5-34.6

Fumbles - lost 3-1 1-0

Penalties - yards 6-56 4-45

Time of possession 28:42 19:18

Individual statistics

Rushing: Frankfort Adena, Throckmorton 15-127, Sykes 16-104, Gray 6-24, Williams 3-10, Bennett 1-(minus 3); Minster, Wellman 2-48, Albers 9-28, Trzaska 4-(minus 1), Ketner 5-(minus 14)

Passing: Frankfort Adena, Sykes 10-15-0-189; Minster, Ketner 7-14-1-42

Receiving: Frankfort Adena, Bennett 3-80, Throckmorton 2-48, Williams 2-21, Matthews 1-21, Bayless 1-13, Myers 1-6; Minster, Albers 4-8, Wellman 2-16, Kohne 1-18