Second Half Spurs Minster 39-21 Victory over Anna

By Bruce Monnin

ANNA - For a little over half the game, the Anna Rocket offense looked almost unstoppable against the Minster Wildcats, taking a 21-10 lead early in the third quarter. But the Minster defense suddenly sprang to life and the Wildcats scored the final 29 points of the contest in taking a 39-21 win.

The first half saw Anna average 18.8 yards every pass completion. In the second half the Rockets were held to just 36 yards through the air, partially thanks to five sacks and numerous quarterback pressures by the Minster defensive line.

“It is the same problem we’ve had the last couple of weeks. Our tackling has got to get better,” stated Minster coach Seth Whiting. “As our tackling continued to improve, we got better and better on defense. Offensively there were some things we had seen on film, and we tried to get to in the first half, but we couldn’t because of game situations. In the second half we were able to get into those things.”

Minster took the opening kickoff and a 53-yard completion from Brogan Stephey to Connor Schmiesing brought the ball to the Anna ten. The Wildcats could get no closer, however, and settled for a 26-yard Stephey field goal to take the early 3-0 lead.

Anna struck right back, using ten plays to drive 65 yards. Justin Richards rushed for the five-yard score to give the Rockets a 7-3 lead. On the Rockets’s next drive they took the ball to the Minster 18-yard line, but Gabe Bornhorst knocked down Anna’s fourth down pass attempt to stop the drive.

Minster used the change in momentum to retake the lead. A 32-yard completion from Stephey to Chase Couse took the ball deep into Rocket territory. Stephey capped off the drive with a 13-yard run and the Wildcats were ahead 10-7.

There was only 2:37 remaining in the half, but Anna needed only six plays to regain the lead. Six plays later Alex Shappie found Colin Elliott for a 32-yard touchdown, putting the Rockets ahead 14-10 at intermission.

After receiving the second half kickoff, Anna only needed four plays to score. Zach Osborn broke several tackles and ran 48 yards for what appeared to be a back-breaking score. The Rockets were ahead 21-10 and the Minster defense seemed to be unable to slow Anna down, much less stop them.

But the Wildcats fought on. A workman-like ten play drive which was finished off with a Will Frimel one-yard blast up the middle and a successful fake extra point for a two-point Stephey run cut the deficit to 21-18. The Minster defense then forced a punt, but the Wildcats fumbled the ball on their first play, leaving the Rockets only 22 yards from the end zone. The Minster defense then came up big, pressuring Shappie into throwing an interception at the 15-yard line. Devan Wuebker fought through the Anna receiver to make the grab, then sprinted down the Minster sidelines 85 yards for the go-ahead score.

After the Wildcat defense forced a punt after a three and out, Stephey ran around the Rocket defense for a 20-yard scoring run to increase the lead to 32-21.

After the inspired Minster defense forced another punt, the Wildcat offense put together a time-consuming, ten play scoring drive. After reaching the Anna 20-yard line, Minster went into victory formation for three plays. But there were still over 20 seconds left on the clock on fourth down, so Stephey floated a pass into the end zone, where James Niemeyer came down with the 26-yard catch and the final score of the game.

Minster had a balanced attack, grinding out 155 yards on the ground and 206 through the air. Stephey led the way with 116 rushing yards and two scores on 19 carries. Niemeyer caught five passes for 70 yards, while Schmiesing also grabbed five passes for 66 yards of his own. After Anna’s initial drive of the second half, they had gained 258 total yards. The Wildcat defense would only allow the Rockets 48 yards the rest of the game.

Next week Friday 3-2 Minster will be hosting 1-4 St. Henry. 2-3 Anna will fire up the busses for a road trip to visit 1-4 Delphos St. John’s.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 3 7 15 14 39

Anna 7 7 7 0 21

First Quarter:

MIN – Brogan Stephey 26 yd FG, 9:12

ANNA – Justin Richards 5 yd run (Aaron Shappie kick); 4:28

Second Quarter:

MIN – Brogan Stephey 13 yd run (Brogan Stephey kick), 2:46

ANNA – Colin Elliott 32 yd pass from Alex Shappie (Aaron Shappie kick); 0:29

Third Quarter:

ANNA – Zach Osborn 48 yd run (Aaron Shappie kick); 10:32

MIN – Will Frimel 1 yd run (Brogan Stephey run), 5:13

MIN – Devan Wuebker 85 yd interception return (Brogan Stephey kick), 1:04

Fourth Quarter:

MIN – Brogan Stephey 20 yd run (Brogan Stephey kick), 11:11

MIN – James Niemeyer 26 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Brogan Stephey kick), 0:17

Team statistics MIN ANNA

First downs 21 11

Rushes - yards 37-155 23-82

Passing yards 206 224

Comp - att - int 14-19-0 14-24-1

Total yards 361 306

Punts - average 1-30.0 3-37.3

Fumbles - lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties - yards 5-35 9-51

Time of possession 25:54 22:06

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Stephey 19-116, Schmiesing 5-23, Bergman 7-18, Frimel 3-4, Team 3-(minus 6); Anna, Osborn 6-63, Fogt 8-33, Richards 1-5, Heitkamp 1-(minus 1), Siegle 1-(minus 5), Shappie 6-(minus 13)

Passing: Minster, Stephey 14-19-0-206; Anna, Shappie 13-23-1-209, Siegle 1-1-0-15

Receiving: Minster, Niemeyer 5-70, Schmiesing 5-66, Wuebker 2-24, Couse 1-32, Heitkamp 1-14; Anna, Heitkamp 5-70, Aufderhaar 4-50, Fogt 1-33, Elliott 1-32, Kenton 1-15, Osborn 1-13, Richards 1-11