St. Henry snaps losing streak

ST. HENRY - With the weather handing both teams a disadvantage, St. Henry worked to get an advantage on Versailles.

Two strong plays while defending punts resulted in two early Redskin scores and a long touchdown by Mitchel Stammen sealed St. Henry's 20-6 win over Versailles on a wet and windy Homecoming night at the Wally Post Athletic Complex.

The win moves the Redskins to 4-2 and 2-2 in Midwest Athletic Conference play. The Tigers drop to 3-3 and 2-2.

Both teams had to deal with a stiff northeasterly wind that made passing when traveling east on the field difficult. Early on, both teams relied heavily on the run.

St. Henry caught the early break when the Tigers had to punt from their own 25. A bad snap sent punter Josh Steinbrunner chasing the ball near his own goal line. Tyler Schlarman helped make the stop to put the Redskins first-and-goal at the one, where two plays later Jesse Niekamp punched in to make it 7-0.

The wind hampered Versailles' next punt for just a 13-yard gain to give St. Henry first-and-10 at the Tiger 40. The Redskins were unable to make the field position pay off and lost the ball on downs, but when the Tigers tried to punt on the next possession, Schlarman got a block and Paul Stammen recovered for St. Henry at the Tiger 24. A healthy does for Niekamp, Paul Stammen and Mitchel Stammen quickly gave St. Henry a 13-0 lead with Mitchel Stammen punching in for the final yard.

"I think Lou Holtz, or somebody, said if you play a weather game, you better pack your defense and special teams. Those both came for us," Redskins coach Brad Luthman said. "Getting those two early miscues on their punts set up the whole game for us."

"In a game with (the weather) situation, you can't fall into a hole special-team wise," Versailles coach Adam Miller said.

Just when it looked like the Redskins had the momentum, things quickly changed. On the first play of the second half, Jesse Niekamp fumbled to give the Tigers the ball at the St. Henry 39. The Redskins recovered to stop the Tigers on downs.

Versailles put together its best drive of the night midway through the third quarter, going 56 yards on 12 plays in just over five minutes. The Tigers converted on two third downs and once on fourth down during the drive. Colin Peters broke through from four yards out to make it 13-6.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Redskins fumbled and Versailles' Jacob Heitkamp recovered at the St. Henry 33. However, St. Henry bowed its back and stopped the Tigers at the 19-yard line with 10 minutes to play.

"We really played off of last year because we really had a solid defense. Last year (Versailles) came out and really dominated us physically," Luthman said. "All week, we talked about what we were going to [make] happen (defensively). I was really proud of what my guys did because Colin Peters is one of the best running backs in the league."

A holding call turned third-and-eight into a third-and 14. On the play, Mitchel Stammen had to handle a high snap and then scrambled downfield for a 92-yard touchdown run to put the Redskins firmly in control at 20-6.

"It was a called (quarterback) draw. He did a nice job selling the pass a little bit," Luthman said. "Jesse made a nice block and Mitch made a great senior play."

Versailles' final two drives gained some yards, but both teams ended on turnovers on downs, allowing the Redskins to shave time off the clock for the win.

"It was a game of big plays," Miller said. "St. Henry capitalized on our mistakes. We were able to punch one in off a fumble, but it got to be too big of a hole to get out of."

Mitchel Stammen led the Redskins with 96 yards rushing. Jesse Niekamp had 52 yards.

Peters, the MAC's top rusher, carried the ball 37 times for 102 yards. The rest of the Tigers were held to a negative nine yards.

St. Henry stays at home next Friday to host New Bremen. Versailles travels to Rockford to face the Parkway Panthers.