Lehman Outguns Minster in 50-48 Shootout

by Bruce Monnin

SIDNEY – The Minster Wildcats and the Sidney Lehman Cavaliers engaged each other in a back-and-forth shootout to begin their respective playoff runs. In the second half, both offenses were practically unstoppable. But the opening half saw six interceptions, four of which put Minster into a hole from which they were never quite able to extricate themselves. Both teams would end up scoring seven touchdowns during the game, but while the Wildcats converted on 6 of 7 extra-point kicks, Lehman made good on 4 of 7 two-point conversions to account for their 50-48 final advantage.

The game started with the Wildcats failing to earn a first down and getting stopped on a fourth down and one running play. The Cavaliers took advantage of the good field position and scored five plays later on a Turner Lachey 5-yard pass to Evan O’Leary. Lachey ended the game with 30 completions on 48 passing attempts for 465 yards. O’Leary would catch 17 passes for 260 yards and set a new Ohio single season record for receiving yards.

Minster answered by driving the ball down the field but had a pass intercepted at the Lehman five-yard line. The Wildcats were intercepted four times in the half, three of them within five yards of the goal line. Another Cavalier scoring drive and two-point conversion followed, and Lehman had an early 16-0 lead.

It only took four plays for the Wildcats to post their first score, a 35-yard pass from Carson Kaylor to Noah Schwieterman. This duo also racked up some stats, as Kaylor completed 24 of 36 attempts for 346 passing yards. Schwieterman caught eight balls for 134 yards and two touchdowns.

After the only punt of the night, three consecutive possessions ended in interceptions, with Jace Hemmelgard earning the Wildcats’ pick. After Minster then stopped the Cavaliers on downs midway through the second quarter, Kaylor took advantage with a 24-yard run up the middle to close the gap to 16-13.

The teams traded another set of interceptions, with Tyler Bergman grabbing Lachey’s pass at the Minster 20, then Lachey returned the favor by taking away a Kaylor pass in the end zone.

O’Leary then turned in the play of the game. From their own 20-yard line, Lachey scrambled left and flipped a short pass to O’Leary, who was hit by Wildcat tacklers, bounced back a couple of yards, then reversed course and split the entirety of the Minster defense for an 80-yard score to make the lead 22-13.

With under two minutes left in the half, the Minster offense used eight plays to score with a five-yard Kaylor run to close the gap to 22-20 at intermission.

“We had our chances tonight,” lamented Wildcat coach Seth Whiting. “We probably should have been up by three scores at halftime, but that’s the way the ball bounces sometimes.”

The second half featured the offenses. Lehman scored three touchdowns on their first three drives of the half. Minster countered with three touchdowns on just two drives, including a 37-yard touchdown pass from Kaylor to Brandan Halpin, a Tyler Bergman 90-yard kickoff return and a five-yard score from Kaylor to Jace Hemmelgarn early in the fourth quarter which cut the Cavalier lead to 44-41.

For the fourth time in the half the Lehman offense went to work and for the fourth time the Minster defense had no answer. After a failed onside kick, the Cavaliers covered 49 yards in seven plays to increase their lead to 50-41. This time the Wildcat offense could not answer with a score, coming up six yards short on a Kaylor fourth down and 20 to go scramble. However, the Minster defense forced a stop, but not until Lehman reached the Wildcat eleven-yard line with 2:18 remaining in the game.

It took Minster nine plays and all but 34 seconds of the clock, but the Wildcats pulled to within two points, 50-48, after Kaylor and Schwieterman hooked up for a 10-yard score. The ensuing onside kick failed, and the Cavaliers claimed the victory.

Minster ends their season 6-5. 10-1 Sidney Lehman will travel to play 10-0 Marion Local next week.

“There is nothing anybody of the field can do right now to take away their pain,” summarized Whiting. “This is a very special thing we get to do and when it’s gone, it’s gone. The eight seniors that we are losing right now have left this program in a better place. Before this season even started I think most people counted us off. We graduated a big class that was really talented. These eight kids found a way to pull everybody together and make a run at this thing.”

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Sidney Lehman 16 6 22 6 50

Minster 7 13 14 14 48

First Quarter:

LEH – Evan O’Leary 4 yd pass from Turner Lachey (Turner Lachey run), 9:24

LEH – John Verrill 13 yd pass from Turner Lachey (Evan O’Leary run), 2:55

MIN – Noah Schwieterman 35 yd pass from Carson Kaylor (Beckham Stephey kick), 1:58

Second Quarter:

MIN – Carson Kaylor 24 yd run (kick failed), 3:49

LEH – Evan O’Leary 80 yd pass from Turner Lachey (run failed), 1:35

MIN – Carson Kaylor 5 yd run (Beckham Stephey kick), 0:30

Third Quarter:

LEH –Turner Lachey 1 yd run (John Verrill pass from Turner Lachey), 9:30

MIN – Brandan Halpin 37 yd pass from Carson Kaylor (Beckham Stephey kick), 8:58

LEH – Turner Lachey 1 yd run (pass failed), 5:41

MIN – Tyler Bergman 90 yd kickoff return (Beckham Stephey kick), 5:26

LEH – John Verrill 10 yd pass from Turne Lachey (Turner Lachey run), 1:35

Fourth Quarter:

MIN – Jace Hemmelgarn 5 yd pass from Carson Kaylor (Beckham Stephey kick), 10:04

LEH – Turner Lachey 1 yd run (run failed), 6:51

MIN – Noah Schwieterman 10 yd pass from Carson Kaylor (Beckham Stephey kick), 0:34

Team statistics LEH MIN

First downs 29 28

Rushes – yards 31-146 36-181

Passing yards 465 346

Comp - att – int 30-48-2 24-36-4

Total yards 611 527

Punts – average 1-47.0 0-0.0

Fumbles – lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties – yards 12-114 9-69

Time of possession 26:51 21:09

Individual statistics

Rushing: Lehman, Lachey 20-75, O’Leary 7-54, J Verrill 4-17; Minster, Kaylor 22-112, Meyer 12-65, Bergman 2-4

Passing: Lehman, Lachey 30-48-2-465; Minster, Kaylor 24-36-4-346

Receiving: Lehman, O’Leary 17-260, J Verrill 6-71, B Verrill 4-55, Richard 3-79; Minster, Schwieterman 8-134, Bergman 6-84, Ketner 5-66, Meyer 3-20, Halpin 1-37, Hemmelgarn 1-5