Minster Rolles Into Playoffs with Big 49-7 Win over Fort Recovery

by Bruce Monnin

MINSTER – The Minster Wildcats received the opening kickoff and scored six plays later. They repeated that result on their next four drives to open a 35-0 first half lead and eventually defeat the Fort Recovery Indians 49-7.

“We know in the MAC, everybody in our conference is well coached whether their record says 10-0 or 0-10” summarized Minster coach Seth Whiting. “Everybody’s prepared and everybody plays hard. Our kids know better than to look past anybody.”

Brogan Stephey threw four touchdown passes in the first half. The opening drive was capped by a 28-yard pass to James Niemeyer, who was playing for the first time after a Week 1 injury.

Dylan Heitkamp caught passes of 21 and 13 yards to set up the second touchdown, a one-yard run by Connor Schmiesing. Stephey found Caleb Couse for a 25-yard score to end the opening period with a 21-0 Wildcat lead.

The second quarter saw Minster complete two more touchdown passes, one to Couse for 18 yards and the other to Heitkamp for 76 yards. A Caden Grisez interception stopped the last Wildcat drive of the half, but the Minster took a 35-0 lead into intermission.

Fort Recovery drove into Minster territory to start the second half, but Logan Murphy and Max Knapke sacked the quarterback to end the threat.

The Wildcats proceeded to tack on two more touchdowns on runs of eight and 47 yards by Chase Bishop. The Indians ended the evening’s scoring when Isaac Roessner took an end around down the left sideline for a 41-yard touchdown. Grisez’ extra point accounted for the final 49-7 score.

Bishop was Minster’s leading rusher, covering 73 yards and two touchdowns on just three carries. Stephey completed 12 of 17 passes for 274 yards and four scores. Heitkamp was the leading receiver with four receptions for 124 yards. Fort Recovery was led by Reece Wendel who carried the ball 22 times for 73 yards.

Minster ends the regular season 8-2 (6-2 MAC) and will remain at home next week as the #2 or #3 seed in Region 28. The Wildcats will host either 4-6 South Charleston Southeastern or 3-6 Manchester. Fort Recovery’s season ends with a 2-8 record (1-7 MAC).

“I’m excited for our kids. They finished the season now 8-2,” added Whiting. “We have some guys back healthy who are playing again. James Niemeyer got to run around, catch a couple of balls and hit a little bit. Noah Schwieterman’s running again and got to play a little bit and make some contact.”

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 21 14 7 7 49

Fort Recovery 0 0 0 7 7

First Quarter:

MIN – James Niemeyer 28 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Beckham Stephey kick), 9:17

MIN – Connor Schmiesing 1 yd run (Beckham Stephey kick), 3:26

MIN – Caleb Couse 25 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Beckham Stephey kick), 0:12

Second Quarter:

MIN – Caleb Couse 18 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Beckham Stephey kick), 8:14

MIN – Dylan Heitkamp 76 yd pass from Brogan Stephey (Beckham Stephey kick), 2:28

Third Quarter:

MIN – Chase Bishop 8 yd run (Beckham Stephey kick), 3:26

Fourth Quarter:

MIN – Chase Bishop 47 yd run (Beckham Stephey kick), 8:39

FR – Isaac Roessner 41 yd run (Caden Grisez kick), 2:18

Team statistics MIN FR

First downs 21 8

Rushes – yards 24-220 37-124

Passing yards 274 25

Comp - att – int 12-17-1 3-6-0

Total yards 494 149

Punts – average 0-0.0 4-34.3

Fumbles – lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties – yards 5-40 2-10

Time of possession 28:16 19:44

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Bishop 3-73, D. Meyer 5-52, Br. Stephey 4-31, Schmiesing 5-24, O. Meyer 3-21, Heitkamp 2-19, Fancher 1-1, Kaylor 1-(minus 1); Fort Recovery, Wendel 22-73, I. Roessner 1-41, Rammel 7-24, A. Roessner 1-1, Jutte 1-1, Grisez 5-(minus 16)

Passing: Minster, Br. Stephey 12-17-1-274; Fort Recovery, Grisez 2-5-0-22, Rammel 1-1-0-3

Receiving: Minster, Heitkamp 4-124, Niemeyer 3-55, Couse 2-43, Bergman 2-41, Be. Stephey 1-11; Fort Recovery, Jutte 1-16, I. Roessner 1-6, A. Roessner 1-3