Minster Dominated Bradford 50-8 in Playoff Opener

by Bruce Monnin

MINSTER – In the first meeting between the Minster Wildcats and the Bradford Railroaders since 1990, Minster dominated on both sides of the ball for a 50-8 victory.

The Wildcat defense compiled five sacks and four other tackles for loss, as they held Bradford to just 16 net yards through the first three quarters of play.

On offense, Minster crossed the goal line seven times in the first half to unleash the running clock throughout the second half of play.

“We have a couple of hours to be excited about a playoff win,” stated a focused Wildcat coach Seth Whiting, “and then we have to go back to work.”

The Railroaders started aggressively with an onside kick that was recovered by Adam Rindler. Minster made them pay with a two-play drive consisting of two passes from James Niemeyer. The first went 29 yards to Noah Schwieterman and the second was caught for a 20-yard touchdown by Caleb Couse.

The Wildcat’s next drive took ten plays and was capped by a 23-yard scoring run by Connor Schmiesing. As time ran out in the first period, Niemeyer kept the ball on the read option and split the Bradford defense for a 43-yard score. A third consecutive two-point conversion made the score 24-0.

The second quarter saw more of the same. Justin Bergman ran the ball seven straight plays for 40 yards and a score on the first drive. Niemeyer then connected with Kole Richard for a 24-yard score and Dylan Heitkamp for one of 19 yards to increase the lead to 43-0. After Dominick Meyer recovered a Bradford fumble on the resulting kickoff, Niemeyer connected with Schwieterman for a 32-yard touchdown.

With Minster ahead 50-0 at intermission, the running clock went into effect and the underclassmen hit the field for the second half. In the fourth quarter, Owen Canan completed two straight passes of 27 and 28 yards to Hudson Hill to provide the only Bradford score of the game, but the Wildcats advanced to the next round of the playoffs with a 50-8 win.

Justin Bergman was Minster’s leading rusher with 82 yards on 13 carries to go with a touchdown and a two-point conversion. Niemeyer completed just seven passes but threw for 147 yards and four touchdowns. Tyler Bergman caught three balls for 42 yards, while four other receivers caught one touchdown apiece.

Bradford ends their season with a 5-5 record. Minster’s record improves to 9-2, and next Friday the Wildcats will host 5-6 New Bremen in a rematch of Minster’s 40-14 Week 9 victory.

“It’s not going to be like last time,” added Whiting, “It’s going to be a war.”

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 24 26 0 0 50

Bradford 0 0 0 8 8

First Quarter:

MIN – Caleb Couse 20 yd pass from James Niemeyer (Connor Schmiesing run), 11:12

MIN – Connor Schmiesing 23 yd run (Connor Schmiesing run), 4:27

MIN – James Niemeyer 43 yd run (Justin Bergman run), 0:00

Second Quarter:

MIN – Justin Bergman 4 yd run (kick failed), 7:42

MIN – Kole Richard 24 yd pass from James Niemeyer (Caleb Couse kick), 5:49

MIN – Dylan Heitkamp 19 yd pass from James Niemeyer (kick failed), 0:46

MIN – Noah Schwieterman 32 yd pass from James Niemeyer (Caleb Couse kick), 0:33

Fourth Quarter:

BRAD – Hudson Hill 28 yd pass from Owen Canan (Owen Canon run), 5:14

Team statistics MIN BRAD

First downs 22 7

Rushes - yards 34-214 16-(-27)

Passing yards 189 122

Comp - att - int 10-21-1 12-30-0

Total yards 403 95

Punts - average 1-23.0 7-30.3

Fumbles - lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties - yards 1-10 4-20

Time of possession 24:12 23:48

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, J. Bergman 13-82, Niemeyer 3-69, Schmiesing 3-40, Meyer 7-23, Richard 1-11, Fancher 2-8, Bishop 3-7, Team 2-(-26); Bradford, Trevino 5-17, Miller 1-(-3), Canan 8-(-15), Team 2-(-26)

Passing: Minster, Niemeyer 7-16-1-147, Fancher 3-5-0-42; Bradford, Canan 12-30-0-122

Receiving: Minster, T. Bergman 3-42, Schwieterman 2-61, Couse 2-27, Richard 1-24, Heitkamp 1-19, Albers 1-16; Bradford, Hill 5-76, Wills 5-40, Trevino 2-6