Second Half Defense Earns Minster 27-17 Victory over Fort Loramie

By Bruce Monnin

FORT LORAMIE - In a 17-17 first half, about the only thing to stop the offenses of the Minster Wildcats and the Fort Loramie Redskins were their own mistakes. In the second half, Minster made fewer mistakes than Fort Loramie, shutting down the Redskins and scoring ten points for the 27-17 victory.

“We had a lot of penalties (11 for 93 yards) and a lot of snap issues, and we’ll get those things cleaned up,” stated Minster coach Seth Whiting. “Once they settled in, our defense played really well.”

Both teams scored touchdowns on their opening possessions. The Redskins completed a 17-yard pass from Tanner Heckman to Jayden Luthman, while Minster followed with a 31-yard strike from Carson Kaylor to Tyler Bergman.

The second quarter saw Fort Loramie drive to the Minster three-yard line, where Kaylor broke through the line and dropped running back Lucas Brandewie for a two-yard loss. This forced Brandewie to kick a 21-yard field goal to give the Redskins a 10-7 lead.

Minster countered with a 68-yard touchdown drive capped by a four-yard Kaylor touchdown run to take a 14-10 advantage. Taylor Fancher compiled 34 rushing yards on the drive, part of his 126 rushing yards, 38 receiving yards and one interception on the night.

Fort Loramie charged back, as Heckman connected with Tanner Eilerman for a 33-yard score after the duo connected on an earlier 37-yard third down conversion. Eilerman was the bane of the Wildcats in the first half, catching 4 passes for 97 yards and one touchdown. Minster was more balanced offensively with 95 rushing and 132 passing yards.

Just before intermission, the Wildcats drove deep into Redskin territory. With the clock winding down and no timeouts remaining, the Minster special teams ran the fire drill to perfection, getting Beckham Stephey onto the field to kick a 29-yard field goal with no time remaining on the clock.

“We spend time on just about every oddball situation you can think of,” stated Minster coach Seth Whiting. “When we have no timeouts and the clock is running and we can’t spike the ball because it’s fourth down, we have a Mayday crew. They operated well. Beckham Stephey doesn’t get enough credit. Two clutch field goals, all his extra points and when it was crunch time, they threw a fade and Beckham was right there to punch it out. The kid can play.”

Minster started the second half by running over six minutes off the clock before taking a 24-17 lead on an eight-yard pass from Kaylor to Fancher. All other drives in the second half were thwarted by penalties or bad snaps until the final eight minutes of the game.

Fort Loramie drove all the way to the Wildcat 12-yard line, when Fanchar intercepted a pass near the goal line. The Redskins later had the ball near midfield when Aiden DuLaney forced a fumble that was recovered by Bergman.

A 34-yard Fanchar run set up Minster for a 28-yard Stephey field goal for the final 27-17 score. The Wildcat defense held the Redskins scoreless and limited Eilerman to just one catch in the second half.

Fancher was the leading rusher, carrying the ball 16 times for 126 yards. Kaylor completed 18 of 22 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns. Tyler Bergman was the leading Wildcat receiver with 6 catches for 82 yards and a score. Eilerman led all receivers for Fort Loramie, totaling 113 yards and a score on just five receptions.

Next week, 1-0 Minster will return home to host 0-1 Convoy Crestview, who lost to Paulding 18-6 in Week 1. 0-1 Fort Loramie will go on the road to play their Shelby County rival, the 1-0 Anna Rockets.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Minster 7 10 7 3 27

Fort Loramie 7 10 0 0 17

First Quarter:

FL – Jaden Luthman 17 yd pass from Tanner Heckman (Lucas Brandewie kick), 8:59

MIN – Tyler Bergman 31 yd pass from Carson Kaylor (Beckham Stephey kick), 4:42

Second Quarter:

FL – Lucas Brandewie 21 yd field goal, 11:52

MIN – Carson Kaylor 4 yd run (Beckham Stephey kick), 9:21

FL – Tanner Eilerman 33 yd pass from Tanner Heckman (Lucas Brandewie kick), 7:38

MIN - Beckham Stephen 29 yd field goal, 0:00

Third Quarter:

MIN – Taylor Fancher 8 yd pass from Carson Kaylor (Beckham Stephey kick), 5:56

Fourth Quarter:

MIN - Beckham Stephen 28 yd field goal, 1:41

Team statistics MIN FL

First downs 23 13

Rushes - yards 46-182 14-92

Passing yards 173 201

Comp - att - int 18-22-0 16-27-1

Total yards 355 293

Punts - average 4-33.5 3-38.0

Fumbles - lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties - yards 11-93 7-69

Time of possession 30:33 17:27

Individual statistics

Rushing: Minster, Fancher 16-126, Hein 8-36, Kaylor 12-18, Bergman 6-18, Kuehner 2-9, Team 2-(-25); Fort Loramie, Heckman 10-89, Brandewie 4-3

Passing: Minster, Kaylor 18-22-0-173; Fort Loramie, Heckman 16-27-1-201

Receiving: Minster, Bergman 6-82, Fancher 4-38, Stephey 3-20, Inskeep 2-16, Halpin 2-12, Hein 1-5; Fort Loramie, Luthman 7-51, Eilerman 5-113, Holthaus 2-4, Brandewie 1-17, Lehmkuhl 1-16