Dominant First Half Leads Minster to 42-21 Win over Parkway

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER - The Minster Wildcats dominated the first half of their matchup against the Parkway Panthers, posting a 42-0 lead at the half. With a running clock and the Minster reserves in the game, it was Parkway’s turn to shine in the second half, scoring three touchdowns to halve the deficit for the Wildcat’s 42-21 victory.

“Our kids came out and did what they were supposed to do and got up 42-0,” stated Minster coach Seth Whiting. “Staff-wise, we had discussed this and knew we had to be okay with whatever happened in the second half because we were going to let our young guys play the whole time no matter what. We ended that game in the fourth quarter with a lot of freshmen playing football. They got to experience Friday night lights.”

The Wildcats mainly rode the arm of quarterback Brogan Stephey in the first half. He completed 10 of 13 passes for 267 yards and five touchdowns, while also adding a 15-yard scoring run.

Dylan Heitkamp was his top target, as he caught four passes for 155 yards, including touchdowns of 27, 88 and 16 yards. Tyler Bergman also scored on a 23-yard reception, as did Isaac Larger on a nine-yard pass play.

The Minster defense had a big part in the first half success. While they forced no turnovers, they stopped Parkway on fourth down plays in Wildcat territory on four separate occasions.

In the second half the Panthers scored all three times they possessed the ball. After receiving the kickoff, Parkway used 13 plays to move 65 yards and reduce their deficit to 42-6. Quarterback Brandon Bruns completed six passes on the drive before scoring on a two-yard run. Bruns would end the night completing 27 of 39 passes for 297 yards.

The Panthers scored early in the fourth quarter on a Luke Booher one-yard plunge. A two-point pass to Ashton Minnich made the score 41-14. Finally, with seven seconds remaining in the game, Bruns connected with Wyatt Carpenter for a 56-yard score.

Minster’s record improves to 4-0 (2-0 MAC). The Wildcats remain at home to host 4-0 Coldwater (2-0 MAC) next Friday. Parkway’s record drops to 1-3 (0-2 MAC). The Panthers host 4-0 (2-0 MAC) Versailles next week.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 21 21 0 0 42

Parkway 0 0 6 15 21

First Quarter:

MIN – Dylan Heitkamp 27 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Beckham Stephey kick), 9:48

MIN – Brogan Stephey 15 yd run (Beckham Stephey kick), 7:22

MIN – Dylan Heitkamp 88 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Beckham Stephey kick), 2:18

Second Quarter:

MIN – Tyler Bergman 23 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Beckham Stephey kick), 9:53

MIN – Dylan Heitkamp 16 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Beckham Stephey kick), 5:45

MIN – Isaac Larger 9 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Beckham Stephey kick), 0:32

Third Quarter:

PW – Brayden Bruns 2 yd run (kick failed), 3:30

Fourth Quarter:

PW – Luke Booher 1 yd run (Ashton Minnich pass from Brayden Bruns), 4:02

PW – Wyatt Carpenter 56 yd pass from Brayden Bruns (Wyatt Carpenter kick), 0:07

Team statistics MIN PW

First downs 16 14

Rushes - yards 23-110 17-38

Passing yards 277 297

Comp - att - int 11-15-0 27-39-0

Total yards 387 335

Punts - average 1-34.0 1-22.0

Fumbles - lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties - yards 1-5 2-20

Time of possession 18:18 29:42

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Schmiesing 12-61, Brogan Stephey 2-29, Meyer 3-24, Bishop 2-3, Fancher 1-0, Kaylor 1-0, Hein 1-(minus 2), Team 1-(minus 5); Parkway, Hamrick 3-19, Booher 6-13, Bruns 8-6

Passing: Minster, Brogan Stephey 10-13-0-267, Kaylor 1-2-0-10; Parkway, Bruns 27-39-0-297

Receiving: Minster, Heitkamp 4-155, Richard 2-58, Bergman 1-23, Schmiesing 1-13, Beckham Stephey 1-10, Larger 1-9, Couse 1-9; Parkway, Younker 7-72, Booher 5-26, W Carpenter 4-94, Langenkamp 4-59, Knittle 2-24, Yoder 2-17, R Carpenter 2-0, Minnich 1-5