Minster Airs It Out in 48-20 Win over Parkway

By Bruce Monnin

ROCKFORD - For the second week in a row, the Minster Wildcats relied almost solely on their passing game for their offense. And for the second week in a row, it was quite successful. Sophomore quarterback Brogan Stephey set a new school record in throwing for 456 yards to lead a 48-20 victory over the Parkway Panthers.

“It’s a special feeling,” said Stephey. “The line and the wide receivers, I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Stephey connected on 17 passes on the evening, spreading the ball to eight different teammates. Three players broke the century mark in receiving yards. Dylan Heitkamp caught four passes for 138 yards and a touchdown, Chase Couse added three receptions for 100 yards and Connor Schmiesing racked up 110 receiving yards and two touchdowns with just two catches.

Minster started big on defense, as on the first play from scrimmage Connor Schmiesing intercepted a pass near midfield. The Wildcats followed with one of their more sustained drives on the night, taking nine plays and converting a fourth down and two en route to a nine-yard Stephey scoring run.

After the Minster defense stopped Parkway on downs at the Wildcat 35, Minster capitalized with a 47-yard pass to Couse followed by a seven-yard strike to James Niemeyer to make the lead 13-0.

After a Panther punt, Brogey hit Heitkamp for 47 yards, then threw a scoring strike to Brady Wolf from 17 yards out to make the score 20-0 after one quarter. The drive cost Parkway the services of head coach Joel Henkle, who was assessed two penalties and removed from the game for arguing about a lack of holding penalty calls against Minster on the drive.

The Wildcats started the second quarter as they played the first, with Stephey finding Connor Schmiesing for a 72-yard scoring bomb. After a Niemeyer interception, Stephey went deep again, this time for 80 yards to Heitkamp, increasing the Minster advantage to 34-0.

Parkway answered with their best drive of the night. In eight plays they covered 69 yards, entirely on the ground. Fletcher Smith finished the possession with a nine-yard scoring run to close the gap to 34-7.

The Wildcats had one more possession in the first half. It ended with a 38-yard score to Connor Schmiesing. Parkway had one more opportunity, but a 37-yard field goal missed wide left, leaving the score 41-7 at half.

The second half started with a running clock. Minster extended the lead at the end of the third period with a one-yard Justin Bergman touchdown run.

Parkway tacked on two fourth quarter scores to make the final score 48-20. The first touchdown came on an Eddie Nichols 45-yard run, and the final score was courtesy of a 91-yard pass from Smith to Caden Heindel.

Whiting was effusive about the guys up front who made the passing attack possible. “You can’t talk enough about our offensive line,” complimented Minster coach Seth Whiting. “They are starting to gel.”

“You have to be able to run the ball to win games,” added Whiting. “I’m not complaining. A win is a win and they are hard to come by, especially in the MAC. Everybody is good, everybody can coach, everybody is tough. This is a fun conference to coach in.”

While Minster put up 493 yards of offense, mostly through the air, Parkway compiled 383 yards of their own. Nichols was the leading rusher on the night with 148 yards on 15 carries. Smith added 116 yards through the air.

Minster’s record improves to 5-2 (4-1 MAC). The Wildcats will host 2-5 Delphos St. John’s next Friday. Parkway record drops to 2-5 (1-4 MAC). The Panthers travel to 2-5 Fort Recovery next week.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 20 21 7 0 48

Parkway 0 7 0 13 20

First Quarter:

MIN – Brogan Stephey 9 yd run (Brogan Stephey kick), 8:34

MIN – James Niemeyer 7 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (kick failed), 4:15

MIN – Brady Wolf 17 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Brogan Stephey kick), 2:20

Second Quarter:

MIN – Connor Schmiesing 72 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Brogan Stephey kick), 11:10

MIN – Dylan Heitkamp 80 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Brogan Stephey kick), 9:11

PW – Fletcher Smith 9 yd run (Braydon Bruns kick), 5:55

MIN – Connor Schmiesing 38 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Brogan Stephey kick), 4:05

Third Quarter:

MIN – Justin Bergman 1 yd run (Brogan Stephey kick), 0:14

Fourth Quarter:

PW – Eddie Nichols 45 yd run (kick blocked), 8:54

PW – Caden Heindel 91 yd pass from Fletcher Smith (kick failed), 4:22

Team statistics MIN PW

First downs 17 19

Rushes - yards 22-37 35-258

Passing yards 456 125

Comp - att - int 16-25-0 7-17-2

Total yards 493 383

Punts - average 2-27.5 2-32.0

Fumbles - lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties - yards 8-85 5-64

Time of possession 25:01 22:59

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Bergman 10-26, Keller 4-7, Richard 1-3, Stephey 4-2, Gehret 3-(minus 1); Parkway, Nichols 15-148, Smith 13-74, L Green 6-32, J Green 1-4

Passing: Minster, Stephey 17-26-0-456; Parkway, Smith 4-13-2-116, Yoder 2-3-0-9

Receiving: Minster, Heitkamp 4-138, Couse 3-100, Niemeyer 3-26, Co Schmiesing 2-110, Ch Schmiesing 2-43, Wolf 1-17, Wuebker 1-17, Bergman 1-5; Parkway, May 3-25, Heidel 1-91, J Green 1-5, Bruns 1-4