Minster Defense Shuts Down Versailles in 35-0 Victory

By Bruce Monnin

Daily Standard Correspondent

MINSTER - The Minster Wildcat offense scored touchdowns on five of its first six possessions, and the Minster defense held the Versailles Tigers scoreless as the Wildcats earned a running clock 35-0 victory.

Not only did the Minster defense yield no points, but it also held Versailles to minus one yard rushing on 19 carries.

“I was really impressed with our defense tonight,” summarized Wildcat coach Seth Whiting. “Our defense played outstanding. Negative one yard rushing is big time.”

Minster received the opening kickoff and drove 86 yards for the opening score. Connor Schmiesing carried the ball six times on the drive, finishing it off with a one-yard scoring plunge.

Versailles was stopped on a fourth down run near midfield, then the Wildcats scored three plays later on a 24-yard run by Dominick Meyer to make the score 14-0 after the opening period.

Minster seemed poised to score again early in the second quarter until Drake Ahrens grabbed an interception at the five-yard line and returned it 38 yards up field.

“That was a bad play call by me,” admitted Whiting. “That’s not the kids’ fault. I put us in a bad spot that I should have checked out of.”

After another stop of a Tiger fourth down run near midfield, Brogan Stephey went over and through several defenders on a 42-yard run. Meyer capped the drive with a one-yard run to increase the lead to 21-0.

Late in the half Versailles drove into Minster territory, but Dylan Heitkamp intercepted a pass and returned it 34 yards to the Tiger 39-yard line. With 37 seconds left in the quarter, the Wildcats needed only three plays to score again, this time on a Stephey nine-yard pass to Tyler Bergman, giving Minster a 28-0 halftime lead.

After Versailles missed a 42-yard field goal to start the second half, the Wildcats drove 80 yards for their final score, a seven-yard pass to Cole Albers. This set the running clock into action, which continued until the end of the game.

Stephey was the leading rusher on the evening with 64 yards on just six carries. Stephey also completed 16 of 20 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns. The passes were spread out to nine Minster receivers with Bergman catching four for 49 yards and a score, Dylan Heitkamp caught three for 52 yards and Albers added three catches for 51 yards and a touchdown.

Minster’s record improves to 7-1 (5-1 in the MAC), and the Wildcats will travel next weekend to play the #1 ranked team in division 7, the undefeated Maion Local Flyers. Versailles’ record drops to 5-3 (3-3 in the MAC) and will return home to host 8-0 Coldwater.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 14 14 7 0 35

Versailles 0 0 0 0 0

First Quarter:

MIN – Connor Schmiesing 1 yd run (Beckham Stephey kick), 6:14

MIN – Dominick Meyer 24 yd run (Beckham Stephey kick), 1:32

Second Quarter:

MIN – Dominick Meyer 1 yd run (Beckham Stephey kick), 3:55

MIN – Tyler Bergman 9 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Beckham Stephey kick), 0:14

Third Quarter:

MIN – Cole Albers 7 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Beckham Stephey kick), 3:14

Team statistics MIN VER

First downs 17 6

Rushes - yards 28-144 19-(-1)

Passing yards 240 139

Comp - att - int 17-21-1 13-19-2

Total yards 384 138

Punts - average 0-0.0 1-28.0

Fumbles - lost 1-1 1-0

Penalties - yards 0-0 4-29

Time of possession 25:11 22:49

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Stephey 6-64, Schmiesing 11-39, Meyer 8-39, Bishop 2-5, Kaylor 1-(minus 3); Versailles, Knapke 4-3, Francis 5-0, Wilker 10-(minus 4)

Passing: Minster, Stephey 16-20-1-213, Kaylor 1-1-0-27; Versailles, Wilker 13-19-2-139

Receiving: Minster, Bergman 4-49, Heitkamp 3-52, Albers 3-51, Schmiesing 2-42, Richard 1-15, Schwieterman 1-12, Ketner 1-10, Larger 1-9, Couse 1-0; Versailles, Knapke 3-32, Francis 3-7, Ahrens 2-46, Schmitmeyer 2-7, Monnin 1-26, Watren 1-14, Kaiser 1-7