Fort Loramie Spoils Debut of New Minster Coach, 40-7

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER  -  Last year was the first time the Minster Wildcats had not opened their season against the Fort Loramie Redskins since their first game at the start of the 2005 season.  While Minster had won the last eight matchups by an average score of 32-11, this first game featuring new Minster coach Seth Whiting went in the opposite direction, with Fort Loramie earning a 40-7 victory.

The game started off poorly for the Wildcats as Damon Mescher intercepted a Minster pass on their opening play.  The Redskins then ground out a 51-yard drive, capped off by a 15-yard scoring toss from Caleb Maurer to Logan Eilerman and the early 6-0 lead. 

Minster responded with a 16-play scoring drive of their own.  With the offense featuring freshman center Will Frimel, freshman quarterback Broghan Stephey and freshman running back Connor Schmiesing, the Wildcats converted two fourth downs before Stephey reached paydirt on a one-yard run.  Stephey’s extra point gave Minster a 7-6 lead.

Both defenses held firm until four minutes remained in the half.  At that point the wheels began to fall off for the young Wildcats.  A 19-yard Mescher run gave the Redskins a 14-7 lead.  A tipped Minster pass was intercepted by Eilerman and returned to the three-yard line, with Mescher then scoring again to make the halftime tally 21-7.

Fort Loramie scored on their opening drive of the second half when Maurer again connected with Eilerman for a twelve-yard score.  On Minster’s next series, Eilerman recovered a Wildcat fumble and returned it 25 yads for yet another score.  A snap over the punter’s head gave the Redskins the ball back at the Minster ten-yard line, and it took a single Ethan Keiser run to make the score 40-7 and set the running clock in motion.

“When we made mistakes, there were not little ones,” lamented Minster coach Seth Whiting.  “We put our defense’s back against the wall constantly.  We have an incredibly young football team as far as who our contributors are right now, so there are going to be growing pains.”

The star on the night was Logan Eilerman, who not only caught 10 passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns, but also scored on a fumble return and just missed a fourth touchdown on a 32-yard interception return.

“#81 (Logan Eilerman) is going to have to be big for us all season long,” said Fort Loramie coach Spencer Wells.  “He’s going to see double teams and a variety of defenses, and it is up to us to make sure this isn’t a one-week thing.”

1-0 Fort Loramie will be hosting 1-0 Versailles as they play their second MAC opponent next week.  Next Saturday 0-1 Minster travels to face the Columbus Crusaders in a matchup that will not count in the computer points since the Crusaders are considered a non-OHSAA sanctioned club team. 

Score by quarter        1 2 3 4 Total

Fort Loramie 6         15       19        0      40

Minster                         7          0         0         0          7

First Quarter:

FL – Logan Eilerman 15 yd pass from Caleb Maurer (kick failed), 9:07

MIN – Broghan Stephey 1 yd run (Brogan Stephey kick), 3:25

Second Quarter:

FL – Damon Mescher 19 yd run (Darren Eilerman pass from Caleb Maurer), 3:28

FL – Damon Mescher 3 yd run (Aden Bolin kick), 2:36

Third Quarter:

FL – Logan Eilerman 12 yd pass from Caleb Maurer (kick failed), 9:26

FL – Logan Eilerman 25 yd fumble recovery (Aden Bolin kick), 8:33

FL – Ethan Keiser 10 yd run (kick failed), 6:30

Team statistics             FL                    MIN

First downs                   17                     8

Rushes - yards              35-173              29-22

Passing yards               196                   66

Comp - att - int              14-21-0             12-19-2

Total yards                    369                   88

Punts - average             2-28.0               5-30.8

Fumbles - lost               3-2                    1-1

Penalties - yards           5-63                  3-18

Time of possession       25:31                22:29

Individual statistics

Rushing:  Fort Loramie, Mescher 14-93, Sherman 13-63, Keiser 4-26, Hoying 1-8, Holland 1-4, Maurer 1-3, Team 1-minus 20; Minster, Bergman 3-24, Schmiesing 10-31, Stephey 9-27, Wuebker 1-2, Nixon 2-3, Team 4-minus 40

Passing:  Fort Loramie, Maurer 14-21-0-196; Minster, Stephey 8-12-1-68, Nixon 4-7-1-minus 2

Receiving:  Fort Loramie, L Eilerman 10-100, Mescher 1-39, Sherman 1-34, D Eilerman 1-14, Davis 1-9; Minster, Wuebker 4-20, Couse 2-21, Rindler 2-15, Kies 2-13, Schmiesing 1-10, Nixon 1-minus 13