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Quarterback Ben Ernst helped lead Minster to its first state championship in 1989, the first state football title by a Midwest Athletic Conference team.
It took 17 years for the Midwest Athletic Conference to win its first state football championship. In the 33 years that followed, the conference has claimed 40 more.
The 1989 Minster Wildcats opened the floodgates in what many thought would be a rebuilding season. Minster had earned a share of the MAC title in each of the two seasons prior to 1989, qualifying for the playoffs each time, but after the 1988 season the Wildcats lost 12 seniors to graduation, including a three-year starter at quarterback, a pair of running backs that combined for over 2,000 yards rushing, an All-Ohio center, and two other All-MAC linemen.
But having advanced to the second round of the playoffs in 1987 and losing to eventual state champ Archbold in the state semifinals in 1988, the Wildcats and their coaching staff knew what it would take.
The late Ken Newland was the head coach and chief motivator for the Wildcats. During his preseason interview in 1989, Newland made his expectations quite clear.
"We want to win it all," he said. "I told the kids the first day we met out here, 'You played against the state champions last year in the semifinals, you know what it takes to go all the way. Now it's up to you. Are you willing to pay the price to go the distance?'"
Mark Cordonnier, who served as Newland's defensive coordinator, said confidence was never an issue.
"Back then, after we started winning, coach Newland had all the kids believing we were going to win every game, we just didn't know what the score was going to be," he said. "That was the mentality."
In 1989, there were just seven MAC schools with football programs, so each team had four non-conference games.
Minster opened the season with a 28-13 win over Spencerville. The following week, the Wildcats scored 42 points in the first half against Riverside, and since there was no running-clock rule, the Riverside coach suggested - and Newland agreed - to play eight-minute quarters in the second half.
Minster started fast in Week Three as well, scoring 34 points in the first half and rolling to a 41-7 victory over Ansonia. The MAC season opened on the road at Rockford, where the Wildcats registered their first shutout with a 42-0 victory over Parkway.
The following Friday, Minster's season officially transformed from a rebuilding year to state champion contention.
Preseason favorite St. Henry traveled to Memorial Stadium, featuring a huge offensive line that had one MAC coach referring to the Redskins as the "University of St. Henry."
Minster took a 21-13 lead on a fake field goal that saw quarterback Ben Ernst toss a 15-yard touchdown pass to Brian Wolf. The Redskins added a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, but Jason Woehrmyer intercepted the two-point conversion and the Cats improved to 5-0.
At the end of the season, Minster players cited the St. Henry game as key to their ultimate success.
"Everybody had them picked as one of the top teams in the state," Ernst said at the post-game press conference after the Wildcats won the state title. "After we beat them, we knew we could beat anybody."
"After St. Henry, I figured for sure we could go all the way," said senior lineman Rod Frericks. "St. Henry had a good team with lots of talent and we still beat them. I think if St. Henry went into the playoffs, and we didn't, they would have won it all."
The 1989 season was not without adversity. Following the St. Henry game, the Wildcats knocked off Coldwater and Marion Local, followed by a 41-12 victory over Dayton Jefferson.
But the unblemished season ended at Delphos, where the Blue Jays throttled Minster 26-0.
For Newland, the loss at Delphos eventually helped to make his team tougher.
"The Delphos game made us realize that we weren't invincible," Newland said. "It showed us that somebody could kick our butts, because they did kick our butts, no doubt about it.
"And one of my philosophies is 'no excuses.' We don't make excuses," he continued. "That's what makes you weak. Delphos kicked our butts. It's as simple as that. Thats what I told the kids, so they worked harder to come back."
Minster finished the regular season with a 35-0 win over New Bremen and just barely nabbed the fourth and final playoff berth in Region 20 of Division V.
And Cordonnier said back then, like today, the challenge was to get through the MAC schedule.
"Every year it was the same thinking," he said. "If you can get through the MAC and make it to the playoffs, you've got a good chance to win playoff games."
Minster opened the second season with a 35-14 victory over Auglaize County rival Waynesfield, then shut out Springfield Central Catholic 16-0, holding All-Ohio running back Mike Smith to just 42 yards.
Looking back, Cordonnier said he gives a lot of credit to Newland for getting the team ready each week.
"We'd do film every Sunday night and by the time the rest of us coaches got there, coach Newland had already watched it 15 times," Cordonnier said. "He had everything written down. Then we'd watch the film and he'd ask, 'What do you think, do we need to tweak this or tweak that?' That made it pretty easy for me to call the defense. Offensively, all we did was run the wishbone. It was pretty much, 'This is what we're going to do. Try and stop us."'
Ernst turned in a remarkable game in the state semifinals at Lima Stadium. He not only handled the quarterback spot, but on defense he picked off three passes and recovered a fumble as Minster scored 16 unanswered second-half points to knock off previously unbeaten Sandusky St. Marys 16-7.
Minster faced McDonald for the state championship at Ohio Stadium in Columbus - a good omen for Wildcat fans who had watched Katie Horstman and her girls track team pick up their eighth state championship that spring at the Horseshoe.
Like the previous week, Minster fell behind 7-0, but rallied for the next 16 points while using a stifling defense to shut down McDonald down and claim what would be the first of many MAC state football championships.
Prior to Minster's hoisting the gold trophy at Columbus, there was little doubt that the MAC was building a reputation as one of the state's top small-school conferences. The top four MAC teams in 1989 - Minster, St. Henry, Delphos St. Johns and Marion Local - were a combined 19-1 against non-conference opponents.
In the decade that followed, St. Henry and Delphos St. Johns would combine for seven state titles, and the MAC was just getting started.
"When your neighbor does it, you have to prove that you can do it too," Cordonnier said. "Once you win, you get more and more kids out. The MAC fan base is fantastic already, but when you win, you get that fan support, including fans from other MAC schools that will go to playoff games to support the MAC. It breeds success."
