Flurry Before Half Leads Minster to 34-8 Win over Parkway

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER - With the Minster Wildcats ahead of the Parkway Panthers 14-0 and just 1:13 remaining in the half, Parkway began a possession at their own 36-yard line. An interception, an onside kick and a couple of big passes later, and Minster had a 28-0 lead at halftime. Both sides scored once in the second half for a final 34-8 Wildcat victory.

Minster received the opening kickoff and marched down the field for the initial score. A short passing game combined with tough running by Connor Schmiesing led to a two-yard scoring run by Schmiesing, who would end the game with 125 yards rushing and three touchdowns on just 16 carries.

“I was happy with the way the kids came out,” complimented Minster coach Seth Whiting. “We told them all week that Parkway was going to come out on fire, so we had to come out and put our foot on them from the jump.”

Early in the second quarter, the Wildcats had a quick five play drive. Three runs of 13, 5 and 12 yards by Schmiesing were coupled with a 27-yard pass from James Niemeyer to Noah Schwieterman and a 14-yard scoring catch by Kole Richard to extend the lead to 14-0.

Then came the flurry before half. Schmiesing intercepted a pass at the Panther 37-yard line and six plays later carried the pigskin over the goal line to make the advantage 21-0. Kicker Caleb Couse followed with a pooch kick which Kaleb Sharp recovered at the Parkway 42-yard line with just eleven seconds remaining before half. Niemeyer found Couse for a 22-yard gain, then with all zeros showing on the clock, Couse caught a 20-yard pass for the touchdown. Couse’s fourth extra point made the score 28-0 at intermission.

“There were some things we saw on film and we attacked those things,” explained Whiting. “We executed, got our kids off the field and played a lot of young guys.”

In the third quarter, Schmiesing scored on his third rushing touchdown, this time from 13 yards out, to start the running clock in motion. The Panthers answered in the final period when a 33-yard pass from Fletcher Smith to Landon Younkin set up a 17-yard score from Smith to Devon Crouch. A two-point conversion run by Logan Green accounted for the final 34-8 tally.

Niemeyer had his best game as the new Minster quarterback, completing 13 of 17 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns.

“I had an offense tailored to Brogan Stephey, and Brogan Stephey is not our quarterback right now,” added Whiting. “We knew St. Henry was going to be rocky because we had to let James (Niemeyer) play and find out what he liked and what he didn’t like. You can’t expect a kid to operate in somebody else’s scheme. We retooled what we do to fit James and he did a really good job tonight.”

The offense and defense of both teams were in a hurry to get plays started in this game. Minster had six false start or offsides penalties for 30 yards. Parkway added eight such penalties for 40 yards.

Minster’s record improves to 6-1 (4-1 MAC). The Wildcats will travel to Delphos to play 3-4 (1-4 MAC) St. John’s next Friday. Parkway’s record drops to 2-5 (1-4 MAC). The Panthers host 0-7 (0-5 MAC) Fort Recovery next week.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 7 21 6 0 34

Parkway 0 0 0 0 8

First Quarter:

MIN – Connor Schmiesing 2 yd run (Caleb Couse kick), 7:42

Second Quarter:

MIN – Kole Richard 14 yd pass from James Niemeyer (Caleb Couse kick), 6:25

MIN – Connor Schmiesing 3 yd run (Caleb Couse kick), 0:14

MIN – Caleb Couse 20 yd pass from James Niemeyer (Caleb Couse kick), 0:00

Third Quarter:

MIN – Connor Schmiesing 14 yd run (kick failed), 3:55

Fourth Quarter:

PW – Devon Crouch 14 yd pass from Fletcher Smith (Logan Green run), 1:55

Team statistics MIN PW

First downs 21 6

Rushes - yards 26-146 17-48

Passing yards 215 112

Comp - att - int 17-21-0 6-19-1

Total yards 361 160

Punts - average 3-30.3 5-40.6

Fumbles - lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties - yards 6-30 13-99

Time of possession 24:35 23:25

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Co Schmiesing 16-125, Bergman 4-15, Niemeyer 2-13, Meyer 2-5, Keller 1-2, Team 1-(minus 14); Parkway, Green 13-37, Smith 2-11, Bruns 1-0, Crouch 1-0

Passing: Minster, Niemeyer 13-17-0-197, Richard 2-2-0-12, Fancher 2-2-0-6; Parkway, Smith 9-16-1-112

Receiving: Minster, Richard 5-59, Schwieterman 3-54, Couse 3-48, Co Schmiesing 3-31, Bergman 2-6, Rindler 1-10, Keller 1-6; Parkway, Green 3-21, Younker 2-39, Crouch 2-30, May 1-18, Bruns 1-4