Minster Rallies Late to Overcome Graham, 27-13

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER - After slow beginnings in their final scrimmage and opening game, the Minster Wildcats aimed for a quick start in this first ever meeting with the Graham Falcons, a division four team from St. Paris. It did not work out as planned, but Minster scored 20 points in the final five minutes of the game to win 27-13.

“If you count our scrimmage against Wapak, right now we are 0-3 in coming out slow and not quite locked in, and that’s on me,” admitted Wildcat coach Seth Whiting. “I have to figure out how to get the kids more locked in at the start of the game, but man, they finished. They finished strong.”

It was Graham that started fast, returning the opening kickoff into Minster territory. Less than two minutes into the game, Tucker Nave capped the drive with a 1-yard scoring run and the Falcons were up 7-0.

Later in the quarter, the Wildcat defense stopped Graham on downs at the Minster 26-yard line, then in the second quarter the Wildcats blocked a Falcon field goal attempt to keep the score close. But with under three minutes remaining in the half, Jeffrey Honeycutt caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Eli Hollingsworth to increase the Falcon lead to 13-0.

The Minster offense seemed to come alive at this point. They put together a nine-play, 79-yard scoring drive which was completed when Brogan Stephey connected with Chase Couse on a 26-yard scoring toss to make the game 13-7 at intermission.

Minster tried to close the gap in the third quarter, but one drive ended in an interception and the other in a blocked field goal attempt. In the fourth quarter the Wildcats reverted to basics, having quarterback Stephey run the ball during 10 of the 13 plays of a scoring drive. Will Frimel powered over from one yard out to tie the game at 13-13 with 4:39 left in the contest.

“In the second half we decided that we were going to tighten up and just power the football at them,” added Whiting. “Our kids busted their butts in the weight room in the offseason so we could run the ball when we need to, and they did it tonight.”

The defense immediately continued its second half dominance, as Devan Wuebker intercepted a long downfield pass. Stephey followed with 24- and 16-yard runs, then hit James Niemeyer with a 24-yard scoring pass to take a 20-13 lead.

The Minster defense again shut down Graham on downs, setting up a Stephey 30-yard run for the final score of the game.

Due to four sacks, the Wildcats netted negative 14 yards rushing in the first half. In the second portion of the game, Minster ran the ball 25 times for 174 yards. Stephey led the way with 105 yards on 25 carries and one touchdown. Stephey added 197 yards passing, with Niemeyer receiving the ball seven times for 85 yards and a score.

Next Friday 1-1 Minster goes on the road to face 2-0 Marion Local. 1-1 Graham stays on the road, playing 1-1 Springfield Shawnee.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 0 7 0 20 27

St. Paris Graham 7 6 0 0 13

First Quarter:

SPG – Tucker Nave 1 yd run (Eli Hollingsworth kick), 10:13

Second Quarter:

SPG – Jeffrey Honeycutt 2 yd pass from Eli Hollingsworth (kick blocked), 2:53

MIN– Chase Couse 26 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Brogan Stephey kick), 0:48

Fourth Quarter:

MIN – Will Frimel 1 yd run (kick failed), 4:49

MIN – James Niemeyer 24 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Brogan Stephey kick), 2:05

MIN – Brogan Stephey 30 yd run (Brogan Stephey kick), 0:59

Team statistics MIN SPG

First downs 21 15

Rushes - yards 38-160 29-121

Passing yards 197 174

Comp - att - int 15-23-1 16-35-3

Total yards 357 295

Punts - average 2-41.0 2-38.5

Fumbles - lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties - yards 7-51 3-31

Time of possession 24:42 23:18

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Stephey 25-105, Bergman 9-47, Niemeyer 1-4, Frimel 3-4; Graham, Hollingsworth 14-72, Nave 12-45, Jacks 1-4, Hardwick 1-1, Levy 1-0

Passing: Minster, Stephey 15-23-1-197; Graham, Hollingsworth 15-34-3-160, Jacks 1-1-0-14

Receiving: Minster, Niemeyer 7-85, Wuebker 5-41, Couse 2-43, Schmiesing 1-28; Graham, Wright 5-28, Jacks 3-44, Honeycutt 3-25, Sells 2-47, Hollingsworth 1-14, Still 1-9, Nave 1-7