By Mark Ruschau
VERSAILLES -- A young Versailles Tigers football team took a monster step forward Friday night as they blew a two touchdown lead and gathered themselves to comeback and defeat the Minster Wildcats 27-21 in overtime at Hole Field in the Midwest Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
With the win Versailles improves to 2-0 on the season as it recorded its 18th consecutive win. Minster falls to 1-1 overall.
"Well, I guess through a season every team is a different team and you are going to see different situations, like building a lead and giving it up," said Versailles coach Al Hetrick. "We found a lot out about ourselves from last week to this week."
"We left a lot of heart and a lot of ourselves on this field tonight," said Minster coach Whit Parks. "There are no moral victories, however."
It looked like it was going to be all Versailles early on as it scored on three of its first four possessions of the game. After stopping Minster on three plays to start the game, the Tigers took over on their own 32 and went 68 yards in 13 plays with Adam Francis covering the final three yards for the score. The big play in the drive was a 24-yard pass completion from Tony McNeilan to Curtis Wourms. Again after stopping Minster on defense, the Versailles offense was back on the field and striking quickly as it went 73 yards in four plays with McNeilan hooking up with Matt Murphy on a 74-yard touchdown pass.
Minster got its offense in gear and got back into the game as it answered the second Versailles touchdown with a score. The Wildcats went 73 yards in 12 plays with Ty Parks going the final three yards to make the score 14-7.
Minster got a major break on the next Versailles offensive series as Michael McVety recovered a Versailles fumble at the Tigers' 40. The Wildcats could not convert however as the Tigers Zac Richard and Mark Keiser stopped Ty Parks on a fourth-and-one at the Versailles 30.
Taking the momentum back, Versailles went 70 yards in 11 plays with Wourms going the final two yards for the score to make it 21-7 at the half. On the drive, McNeilan was three-for-three in the air for 41 yards.
Minster came out of the locker room and scored on its first two possessions of the second half to tie the score. After the Minster defense sent Versailles to the sidelines on a three-and-out, the Wildcats went 75 yards in eight plays with Ty Parks motoring 45 yards for the score to make it 21-14.
On the next Versailles offensive series, the Tigers moved to a first down at their own 33 and after three running plays netted them nine yards, on fourth down Wourms was stopped on a fake punt attempt by Chris Stueve to give Minster the ball at the Versailles 42.
Minster the went the 42 yards on six straight Ty Parks rushes, with the score coming from a yard to tie the game.
On the night, Parks ended up with 208 yards on 35 totes and three scores.
Neither team threatened to score in the final period to send the game into the extra session.
On Minster's series in the overtime, Parks gained seven yards to the 18. On second down, Joe Luthman stopped Parks for no gain. On third down, Keiser stopped Parks again for no gain. On fourth down, Parks' pass to Dean Ripploh was just off his finger tips ending the Wildcats' series.
Two carries by Murphy and a carry by Francis moved the ball to the three. After a Francis run moved the ball to the one, Versailles was called for illegal procedure which moved the ball back to six. A run by Wourms moved the ball to the four and from there, Murphy covered the final four yards for the score.
"They had all the momentum going into the overtime and it was big for us to come out and stop them and still have enough to score a touchdown," said Hetrick. "This win was well earned."
"We knew who we were playing and we knew it was going to be a tough game," said coach Parks. "It came down the end and we had a chance to win the game and we just did not get it done."
Versailles steps out of the conference next week, hosting Lehman. Minster opens the home portion of its schedule, playing host to Fort Recovery. |
