Columbus Africentric Overcomes Minster 48-20

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER - The Minster Wildcats jumped out to an early 20-8 lead against the visiting Columbus Africentric Nubians. But after the Wildcats were stopped on a fourth down play early in the second quarter, the Nubians ran off 40 unanswered points to earn the 48-20 road victory.

Tyler Bergman was star of the first minute of the game. After Tyler returned the opening kickoff to midfield, Carson Kaylor connected with Bergman for a 50-yard score just 14 seconds into the contest.

On Africentric’s first play from scrimmage, Bergman intercepted a pass and returned it to the Nubian 30-yard line. Eight plays later, Dominick Meyer plowed into the end zone from two yards out on fourth down to increase the lead to 13-0.

Africentric responded with a 13-play, 83-yard drive. Quarterback Joshua Smith scored on a 13-yard run and then rushed for the two-point conversion to cut the Wildcat lead to 13-8. It would be the first of six successful two-point conversions for the visitors in the game.

Minster scored for their third straight possession shortly into the second quarter. This time Kaylor threw for nine yards to Jace Hemmelgarn to put the Wildcats up 20-8.

“We jumped out on top. We did what we were supposed to do,” explained Minster coach Seth Whiting. “We knew we had to score every possession. They were two hours from home, did not have a lot of fans with them, and we jumped out to an early lead. They were able to battle back, overcome, and take care of business.”

The Nubians started the comeback with an Anthony 10-yard scoring run. When Minster attempted to re-extend the lead, they were halted on a fourth down play when they only gained one of the needed two yards. After that, Africentric was unstoppable on both sides of the ball. Smith threw a 31-yard pass to Anthony for one score, and just before half Anthony sliced through the Minster defense for a 70-yard run to take a 32-20 halftime lead.

The Nubians shut out the Wildcats in the second half while tacking on two touchdowns. Smith scored on a two-yard run and then threw a three-yard pass to Jordan Simmons late to achieve the 48-20 final score.

Quarterback Smith passed for 217 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 78 yards and two more scores. Anthony was the master to the explosive play, as he had 108 yards rushing and two touchdowns on just five carries, plus 122 yards receiving and a score on seven receptions.

“The quarterback (Joshua Smith) and the wide receiver (Caleb Anthony) are just incredibly talented kids,” added Whiting. “Those dudes are seniors and four-year starters, and they are Division 1 athletes for a reason. We just didn’t do a great job of keeping them contained.”

The Wildcats were somewhat successful with their power running game, as Meyer rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. Kaylor added 43 yards on the ground while throwing for 93 yards and two touchdowns. Bergman was the top Wildcat receiver with 65 yards and a touchdown on four receptions.

Next week, 1-1 Minster will host their third straight game against the 2-0 Anna Rockets to begin MAC play.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Columbus Africentric 8 24 8 8 48

Minster 13 7 0 0 20

First Quarter:

MIN – Tyler Bergman 50 yd pass from Carson Kaylor (pass failed), 11:46

MIN – Dominick Meyer 2 yd run (Beckham Stephey kick), 7:16

AFR – Joshua Smith 13 yd run (Joshua Smith run), 2:50

Second Quarter:

MIN – Jace Hemmelgarn 9 yd pass from Carson Kaylor (Beckham Stephey kick), 10:30

AFR – Caleb Anthony 10 yd run (Caleb Anthony run), 6:47

AFR – Caleb Anthony 31 yd pass from Joshua Smith (Derron Gray Jr pass from Joshua Smith), 2:43

AFR – Caleb Anthony 70 yd run (Joshua Smith run), 0:18

Third Quarter:

AFR – Joshua Smith 2 yd run (Joshua Smith run), 8:29

Fourth Quarter:

AFR – Jordan Simmons 3 yd pass from Joshua Smith (Derron Gray Jr pass from Joshua Smith), 1:42

Team statistics AFR MIN

First downs 22 15

Rushes - yards 35-268 39-149

Passing yards 217 93

Comp - att - int 16-20-1 8-14-1

Total yards 485 242

Punts - average 1-48.0 1-30.0

Fumbles - lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties - yards 11-75 3-10

Time of possession 24:30 23:30

Individual statistics

Rushing: Col. Africentric, Anthony 5-108, Smith 12-78, Hairston 13-45, Stacker. 5-3; Minster, Meyer 20-102, Kaylor 16-43, Kuehner 3-4

Passing: Col. Africentric, Smith 16-19-1-217, Anthony 0-1-0-0; Minster, Kaylor 8-14-1-93

Receiving: Col. Africentric, Anthony 7-122, Gray Jr 6-80, Carlisle Jr 2-12; Minster, Bergman 4-65, Hemmelgarn 2-24, Hess 2-4