Saturday, October 29th, 2022
Out to a good start
Minster opens postseason with win over Fort Recovery
By Bruce Monnin
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Minster's James Niemeyer tackles Fort Recovery's Caden Grisez as Troy Homan (6) looks on during the Division VII playoffs at Memorial Field on Friday.
MINSTER - Minster used a dominant first-half performance to grab an early 36-8 lead on Fort Recovery, then matched the Indians in the second half to secure a 50-22 victory in the opening round of the Division VII football playoffs on Friday night at Memorial Field in Minster.
The win allows the Wildcats (7-4) to continue playing next week, traveling to Mechanicsburg to face the Indians. Fort Recovery ends its season at 3-8.
The initial half featured the return of Brogan Stephey, who had missed the previous game with an injury. He completed seven passes for 160 yards and three touchdowns, plus ran for another score in his return to action.
In the second half, the Wildcats turned to Connor Schmiesing, who came into the game with just 49 rushing yards on 21 carries. Schmiesing ended this game with 206 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Minster's Connor Schmiesing runs past Fort Recovery's Reece Guggenbiller during the Division VII playoffs at Memorial Field on Friday.
"Very happy with the way our offensive line played," said Minster coach Seth Whiting. "We really challenged them to pick up their level of physicalness.
"We didn't run him (Schmiesing) much all year," continued Whiting. "He did a nice job, but its easy to run when you have holes like that."
On the defensive side, James Niemeyer intercepted a Fort Recovery pass in each of the first three quarters. The third takeaway came on a diving grab of a deep pass.
"He caught the one interception one-handed on his back," said Whiting.
"It hit the bottom of my hand and I pinned it to my helmet," said Niemeyer.
The Wildcats took the opening kickoff and needed only six plays to cover 60 yards for the score, with Stephey running it in from six yards out.
The Indians retook the lead one play later. Cale Rammel fired a pass deep over the middle to Troy Homan who finished the 58-yard play in the end zone. Another pass from Rammel to Homan for the 2-point conversion gave Fort Recovery the 8-7 lead.
Minster responded with an eight-play drive capped off when Stephey found Niemeyer over the middle for a 36-yard score. Niemeyer's first interception of the night gave the ball back to the Wildcats deep in Indian territory, and a 20-yard pass from Stephey to Chase Couse made the score 21-8 after one period.
Midway through the second quarter, Minster put together a 58-yard drive consisting of seven running plays. Schmiesing broke a run over the left side of the line and outran the defense to the pylon for a 16-yard touchdown. On the Wildcats' last possession of the half, Stephey threw a screen pass to Schmiesing, who weaved through the Fort Recovery defense for 40 yards and a touchdown.
The second half saw both teams score twice. Midway through the third quarter, the Indians put together an 11-play scoring drive with Homan scoring on a 13-yard pass from Rammel. The answering Minster drive featured seven rushes for 57 yards by Schmiesing, including the touchdown, making the score 43-14.
The Indians struck again, this time via a 17-yard strike from Rammel to Reece Guggenbiller. Minster ended the scoring with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Stephey to Devan Wuebker.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Fort Recovery's Ethan Hartnagel looks for running room as Minster's Andy Poeppelman closes in during the Division VII playoffs at Memorial Field on Friday.
Fort Recovery's rushing attack was led by Ethan Hartnagel's 72 yards on 14 carries. Rammel threw for 121 yards, with Homan catching six balls for 73 yards and two touchdowns.
It was a busy week for the Whiting household, as his wife gave birth to Trace Quinton Whiting on Sunday.
"I have an unbelievable wife," said Whiting. "Most head coaches will tell you it is hard to have this job without having an incredibly understanding wife. When my wife started having contractions on Saturday night, she said, 'This is great. This shouldn't disrupt anything practice-wise.'"
