Fort Loramie Uses Big Plays in 39-27 Win over Minster

By Bruce Monnin

FORT LORAMIE - Last year the Fort Loramie Redskins dominated the Minster Wildcats 40-7 to start the season. This time it was a much closer affair, though Fort Loramie obtained the win for the second year in a row, 39-27. The difference was the ability of the Redskins to make more big plays than the Wildcats.

Fort Loramie received the opening kickoff and set the tone for the evening. Faced with a fourth down and one deep in their own territory, they rolled the dice and Caleb Maurer broke free for a 52-yard run. Four plays later Maurer threw a 9-yard scoring toss to Isaac Raterman to lead 6-0.

Minster responded immediately with their own 87-yard scoring drive, capped by a 34-yard pass from Brogan Stephey to Devan Wuebker. The extra point gave the Wildcats a 7-6 lead.

Another big Maurer run, this time for 36 yards and a touchdown, gave the Redskins a 12-7 lead and set up perhaps the most crucial play of the evening. Kicker Aden Bolin delivered a short but high kickoff that no Minster returner decided to pick up. Nate Boerger jump on the ball for the Redskins, giving them an unintentional, but successful, onside kick. Three plays later Maurer ran into the end zone from six yards out to make the lead 18-7.

“Our special teams and kicking were good tonight, except for that communications mistake on the onside kick,” lamented Minster coach Seth Whiting. “That killed us. You just can’t make that many mistakes and win a football game.”

After Ian Homan recovered a second quarter Fort Loramie fumble (the only turnover on the night for either team), Minster drove into Redskin territory. When faced with a fourth down at the 15-yard line, Stephey found Wolf for the score, and the deficit was reduced to 18-13.

With time running out in the half, Maurer dissected the Wildcat defense on a 6-play, 76-yard drive that took just over a minute, making the halftime score 25-13 in favor of the home team.

Minster opened the second half with 64-yard kickoff return by Connor Schmiesing allowing the Wildcats to start a drive at the Redskin 24-yard line. However, they could not take advantage of the field position and turned the ball over on downs. Fort Loramie then extended the lead to 32-13 thanks to a 28-yard touchdown pass from Maurer to Holland. Minster answered by piecing together another long drive, covering 72 yards in twelve plays with Stephey polishing it off with a 4-yard run, thus closing the gap at the end of the third quarter to 32-21.

A rare defensive stop to begin the fourth quarter gave the ball back to the Wildcats, who put together yet another long drive of 71 yards on eleven plays. A 17-yard Stephey scoring run gave hope to the Minster fans as their deficit was now just 32-27.

The Redskins wasted no time dashing those dreams as a 66-yard run by Holland reopened the gap between the teams to 12 points, the final score of 39-27.

Big stats were put up by both quarterbacks. Caleb Maurer completed 13 of 16 passes for 194 yards and three touchdowns, plus ran for another 131 yards and two more scores. Brogan Stephey countered by completing 23 of 30 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns, plus adding 83 rushing yards and two more scores. The difference for Fort Loramie may have been the second threat in Will Holland, who caught one touchdown pass and ran 14 times for 148 yards and another score.

Next week, 1-0 Fort Loramie will be traveling to face the defending Division 5 state champions, the 1-0 Versailles Tigers. 0-1 Minster will host 1-0 St. Paris Graham in these teams’ first ever matchup.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Fort Loramie 18 7 7 7 39

Minster 7 6 8 6 27

First Quarter:

FL – Isaac Raterman 9 yd pass from Caleb Maurer (kick failed), 9:35

MIN – Devan Wuebker 34 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Brogan Stephey kick), 5:39

FL – Caleb Maurer 36 yd run (run failed), 4:42

FL – Caleb Maurer 6 yd run (pass failed), 3:03

Second Quarter:

MIN – Brady Wolf 15 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (run failed), 1:54

FL – Logan Eilerman 20 yd pass from Caleb Maurer (Aden Bolin kick), 0:24

Third Quarter:

FL – Will Holland 88 yd run (Aden Bolin kick), 8:00

MIN – Brogan Stephey 4 yd run (Brady Wolf pass from Brogan Stephey), 1:02

Fourth Quarter:

MIN – Brogan Stephey 17 yd run (pass failed), 7:48

FL – Will Holland 66 yd run (Aden Bolin kick), 6:11

Team statistics FL MIN

First downs 17 22

Rushes - yards 29-267 30-73

Passing yards 194 250

Comp - att - int 14-17-0 23-30-0

Total yards 461 323

Punts - average 1-30.0 1-39.0

Fumbles - lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties - yards 9-90 8-70

Time of possession 18:12 29:48

Individual statistics

Rushing: Fort Loramie, Holland 14-148, Maurer 14-131, Team 1-minus 12; Minster, Stephey 21-83, Frimel 3-6, Bergman 3-4, Schmiesing 1-minus 1, Team 2-minus 19

Passing: Fort Loramie, Maurer 13-16-0-194, McGee 1-1-0-0; Minster, Stephey 23-30-0-250

Receiving: Fort Loramie, Eilerman 5-80, Raterman 4-47, Holland 2-56, Keiser 2-11, Maurer 1-0; Minster, Niemeyer 10-89, Wuebker 3-63, Schmiesing 3-33, Couse 3-25, Heitkamp 2-16, Wolf 1-15, Frimel 1-9