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Misnter quarterback Brogan Stephey (12) gets some blocking from Will Frimel (57) during Friday's MAC football game at St. Henry. The Wildcats scored late in the game to claim a 12-7 victory.
ST. HENRY - There is probably no other high school sport that can be affected by the weather as much as football.
That fact was greatly in evidence in the Minster Wildcats' dramatic last minute 12-7 victory over the St. Henry Redskins.
"These conditions kind of neutralize things, bring you back to football like in the back yard," said St. Henry coach Josh Werling, "Unfortunately, in this back yard we fell just short."
Minster won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, then kicked off with the wind. The Wildcat defense forced a fourth down and five at the St. Henry 40-yard line. Facing a head wind which was destined to doom any punt, the Redskins tried to convert but were stopped four yards short.
Five plays later the Minster offense scored on a 27-yard run as Brogan Stephey broke a tackle behind the line of scrimmage before slicing through the middle of the field into the end zone. The missed extra point left the Wildcats with a 6-0 lead.
"We were hoping the reports were accurate as to when the rain would kind of die down," said Minster coach Seth Whiting, "so we decided to kick with the wind and make them play into it to start the game. We thought we could gain a little advantage there and obviously it worked out as we pumped one in right away. From there on out it was just a sloppy mudfest."
In the heavy rain and wind, neither offense was effective the rest of the half. Minster would gain 91 more yards and reach Redskin territory twice without scoring. Meanwhile, St. Henry would only gain 15 more yards in the half. Neither team had a completed pass at intermission.
The rain slackened in the second half, but the wind remained. St. Henry had the wind at their back in the third quarter and drove into Wildcat territory twice without reaching paydirt. Then came the break they had been waiting for when a Minster incomplete pass was blown backwards enough to be ruled a lateral which was recovered by Jared Nietfeld and returned to the Wildcat 23-yard line.
St. Henry's Charlie Werling battles through the blocks for yardage.
When Redskin quarterback Charlie Werling was injured on the next play, freshman Landon Schwartz was called into action. He responded on fourth down with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Nietfeld. A Michael Gonzalez extra point gave St. Henry the 7-6 lead.
"I'm very proud of our team tonight," said Werling, "We battled them toe to toe and we had to ask a freshman to come in at the end and he delivered a great ball on fourth down to give us the lead."
Minster drove into Redskin territory twice to start the fourth quarter but failed to convert on two fourth down attempts. With 1:33 remaining in the game, St. Henry faced a fourth down and seven to go. A punt into the teeth of the wind traveled 18 yards to the Minster 46-yard to start the Wildcats' final attempt to pull out the victory.
"If we had reached fourth and less than three, we would have gone for it," said Werling. "With the way their defense was playing, I didn't like our chances of converting so I was trying to take every yard and every second of clock I could get."
Having only completed one pass for four yards on the night, Minster was forced to go to the air. A pass interference penalty brought the ball onto the Redskin side of the field, and a 13-yard pass from Stephey to Cole Albers placed the ball inside the 30. With only 27 seconds on the clock and no timeouts remaining, Stephey connected with Dylan Heitkamp, who broke a tackle at the ten-yard line and spun away from two more defenders inside the five-yard line to reach the end zone. Had he gone down, the Wildcats would have been left with little time to attempt another play.
"Every time either team got moving, they got to the 35 or 40 on this side of the field and everybody bogged down," said Whiting, "Even if you put a clean ball out, as soon as you snapped it that ball was covered in mud. That was a great play by him (Heitkamp) to stay on his feet and get in the end zone, but again that happened down here inside the five where you had some solid ground."
Minster's Will Knapke (26) closes in as St. Henry's Jared Nietfeld (1) tries to catch the ball.
Minster ended the game with 233 yards rushing, with Stephey carrying 29 times for 139 yards and Dominick Meyer adding 51 yards on 10 carries. The Wildcats defense held St. Henry to just 79 total yards and four first downs for the game. Werling rushed 15 times for 36 Redskin yards.
"The defense played their butts off. They did everything we asked them to do," said Werling, "We just have to find a way to make that last play."
"I thought both teams' defenses played well. On fourth down, hats off to them for making that play," elaborated Whiting. "Our kids found a way to get it done at the end of the game."
Minster (5-1, 3-1 MAC), returns to the road to visit New Bremen next Friday in their annual matchup. St. Henry (2-4, 1-3 MAC) travels to Rockford to take on Parkway.
