Delphos St. John’s Capitalizes on Minster Mistakes in 27-0 Shutout

By Bruce Monnin

DELPHOS  -  Most everything that could go wrong did for the Minster Wildcats in a 27-0 loss to the Delphos St. John’s Blue Jays Saturday night.  Three turnovers, coupled with over 100 yards in penalties combined to stall every Minster drive and give St. John’s the field position they needed to secure their first victory of the year.

The Wildcat defense appeared to get the game off to a good start, forcing St. John’s into a third down and 18 to go situation on the third play of the game.  But Nolan Schwinnen tossed a deep ball to J.J Bonifas, who outplayed the Minster defender to make the catch and take it 76 yards to the house for a quick 7-0 lead.  The Wildcats had a drive of their own in the quarter, but it ended in a fumble at the Blue Jay 31-yard line.

Minster had a clock consuming 17-play drive early in the second quarter, but it ended when Braysen Schulte grabbed an interception and returned it 58 yards to the Wildcat six-yard line.  On the next play, Schwinnen rushed in for the score and the 14-0 lead.

The Wildcats had another long drive in the quarter, this one lasting eleven plays.  It was slowed by two ineligible player downfield penalties and a personal foul before ending with a punt.

Early in the third quarter, a Schwinnen to Bonifas 31-yard connection set-up Clay Paddubny, who rushed for 38 yards and the touchdown on three carries, extending the St. John’s lead to 20-0.

After another Wildcat drive was derailed by a false start and a personal foul, the Blue Jays finished off the scoring with a 25-yard strike from Schwinnen to Bonifas.  Minster had two more drives in the final period, but penalties and an interception in the end zone stymied the Wildcats.

Schwinnen passed for 204 yards on the evening, 144 of which were caught by Bonifas with just four receptions.  Minster quarterback Brogan Stephey was the games’ leading rusher with 91 yards on 17 carries.

The referees claimed almost as much yardage as either team, flagging the combatants for a combined 23 penalties for 193 yards.

With the win, Delphos St. John’s improves to 1-3 (1-1 in the MAC) and will travel to face 4-0 Coldwater next week.  Minster drops to 1-3 for the season (0-2 MAC).  They also have a challenge next Friday, visiting 4-0 Marion Local. 

Score by quarter           1  2 3 4 Total

Delphos St. John’s        7  7 13         0 27

Minster                         0          0          0         0         0

First Quarter:

DSJ – J.J. Bonifas 76 yd pass from Nolan Schwinnen (Braylon Metzger kick), 10:17

Second Quarter:

DSJ – Nolan Schwinnen 6 yd run (Braylon Metzger kick), 5:49

Third Quarter:

DSJ – Clay Paddubny 7 yd run (kick failed), 5:50

DSJ – J.J. Bonifas 25 yd pass from Nolan Schwinnen (Braylon Metzger kick), 0:08

Team statistics             DSJ                  MIN

First downs                   14                     14

Rushes – yards             33-129              35-144

Passing yards               204                   80

Comp - att – int             11-19-1             10-29-2

Total yards                    333                   224

Punts – average            4-33.5               4-37.0

Fumbles – lost              0-0                    1-1

Penalties – yards          10-88                13-105

Time of possession       24:23                23:37

Individual statistics

Rushing:  Delphos St. John’s, Paddubny 16-51, Ricker 3-27, Grothaus 2-24, Reynolds 4-8, Schulte 2-8, Elwer 1-8, Schwinnen 5-3; Minster, Stephey 17-91, Wellman 15-44, Nixon 1-5, Schmitmeyer 1-2, Schmiesing 1-2

Passing:  Delphos St. John’s, Schwinnen 11-19-1-204; Minster, Stephey 10-29-2-80

Receiving:  Delphos St. John’s, Bonifas 4-144, Elwer 3-23, Fittro 1-14, Grothaus 1-14, Ricker 1-5, Schulte 1-4; Minster, Couse 2-27, Wellman 2-19, Fortman 2-18, Kohne 2-11, Nixon 1-5, Kies 1-0