Another classic

MINSTER - The Minster Wildcats and the Fort Recovery Indians are quickly becoming one of the biggest football rivalries in the MAC, as their last six games over the previous four years were hard-fought and close classics.

The tradition continued on Friday night, with Minster scoring a go-ahead touchdown in the final minute to claim a 28-22 victory.

"What a great game, awesome!" exclaimed Minster coach Geron Stokes. "It was just two good teams competing."

With 7:39 remaining in the game, a 57-yard Fort Recovery drive stalled at the Minster nine-yard line. Despite missing two extra points and a field goal earlier in the game, Cobe Wendel calmly drilled a 26-yard attempt to give the Indians their first lead of the game, 22-20.

Though Fort Recovery had outgained the Wildcats 406 yards to 184 at that point, the Minster offense produced the drive of the game, going 65 yards in 14 plays and converting two fourth downs along the way. With 54 seconds remaining in the game, on a fourth down play from the nine yard line, Jacob Niemeyer found August Boehnlein wide open over the middle for the game winning touchdown.

"What a great play, well executed by our guys," added Stokes. "It is cool to see the work they do in practice show up on Friday night."

The Indians had one final chance, but Jack Heitbrink intercepted his second pass on the night to seal the win.

There was little scoring in the first half. Fort Recovery took its first possession and drove into Minster territory, but Heitbrink intercepted a pass at the 26-yard line. The Wildcats followed with four complete passes and then five rushing plays, capped by an Alex Schmitmeyer two yard touchdown run for the early 7-0 lead.

The Indians drove into Minster territory again, but this time their drive ended with a fumble recovered by Cody Frericks at the Wildcat 17-yard line.

Fort Recovery's third foray into Minster territory was more successful, as Clay Schmitz threw a short pass to Robby LeFevre, who sprinted through the heart of the Wildcat defense for a 69-yard touchdown. The Indians drove into Minster territory a fourth time, but the half ended when a 24-yard field goal attempt missed wide to the left. Despite Fort Recovery's seeming dominance of the first half, Minster escaped with a 7-7 tie.

The Indians went three and out to start the third quarter, and the resulting punt was returned 65 yards by Schmitmeyer to the Fort Recovery five yard line. Two Schmitmeyer runs gave Minster a 14-7 lead. The Indians responded with a drive ending in a 12-yard touchdown pass from Schmitz to Gavin Thobe. A missed extra point left the Wildcats with a 14-13 lead.

Both teams scored another touchdown in the third quarter. A Niemeyer 49 yard run led to a one yard Schmitmeyer touchdown carry, while Schmitz finished off a drive with a one yard keeper. Both kickers missed the extra points, and Minster led 20-19 going into the final stanza.

The fourth quarter consisted in two long drives, one for the Fort Recovery go ahead field goal and the other for the Minster winning touchdown.

"We've been really, really nervous the last couple of weeks and its affecting our execution because we are trying to compete so hard," analyzed Stokes. "We have to marry competing with executing. We were a little bit better tonight, but we weren't great. We found a way to win it late, which was awesome to see."

Fort Recovery's Schmitz completed 23 of his 34 pass attempts for 309 yards. He spread the wealth to six different receivers, with Regan Martin claiming seven receptions for 87 yards.

Minster's Niemeyer responded with an efficient 11 completions on 15 attempts for 116 yards. Perhaps more importantly, the Wildcats won the turnover battle, not giving up the ball once on a wet night while grabbing two interceptions and recovering one fumble.

The win pushes Minster's record to 3-0, and on Friday the Wildcats travel to face 3-0 Coldwater. Fort Recovery's record drops to 2-1, and the Indians return home to face 2-1 New Bremen next week.