The Minster defense turned the tide in the second half after a first half shootout
In the backyard brawl that is Minster vs. Ft. Loramie, things started out as a shootout. But the Wildcats were able to make adjustments and overcome mistakes in the second half to beat the Redskins 27-17. The teams played to a 17-17 stalemate in the first half with just one punt on each side.
It was late heroics on the Minster side that preserved and secured the final victory. With the Wildcats up 24-17 the Redskins had a big opportunity to tie the game midway through the fourth quarter when Heckman ran 48 yards on the first play of a possession to put the ball at the Minster 20. An 8-yard run by Heckman set up 2nd-and-2 from the 12, but his pass to Eilerman was batted away in the end zone by Stephey.
“I made some defensive adjustments, especially for him,” said Minster coach Seth Whiting said of Stephey. “And he looked at me and said, ‘No. Let them throw at me all night.’ An d when it was crunch time and they threw a fade to eighty-one, where he knew where it was going, Beckhem is right there to punch it out and make a play.”
After a delay of game, Heckman was then intercepted at the goal line by Fancher to end the scoring threat.
“It was a big play. They were picking on our seams a little bit. They were doing it in the first half. The second half they were going after it again too. We talked to Taylor about bating it a litle bit more, looking like we were giving one up and then breaking on it. It worked out in our favor, and he was able to jump that one,” Whiting explained.
Ft. Loramie got the ball back again after a punt, but a hard hit jarred it loose from Heckman with Minster recovering it at the Redskins 45. They put the game away with a late drive that ended with another 28-yard field goal by Stephey.
Whiting gave big credit to his junior kicker and defensive back, “Two clutch field goals, all his extra points – the kid can play. He’s a fox-hole guy. You’re going into a fight, you want that kid beside you.”
Ft. Loramie took the opening drive 63 yards in seven plays with Jayden Luthman scoring on a 14-yard pass from Tanner Heckman to give the home team the 7-0 lead. Minster answered with an 82-yard drive that covered nine plays. Tyler Bergman provided the score on a 31-yard catch and run from Carson Kaylor.
The Redskins took a 10-7 lead on their next possession when their drive stalled at the Minster 6. Lucas Brandewie nailed a 20-yard field goal to put Ft. Loramie back on top with 11:52 left in the first half. But the Wildcats answered again with a 68 yard possession that took just six plays – all on the ground. Kaylor’s 3-yard scamper gave Minster their first lead at 14-10.
Ft. Loramie then put together their own quick drive, going 71 yards in just four plays. The Tanner to Tanner connection accounted for 70 of those yards. A 37-yard pass from junior quarterback Tanner Heckman to sophomore receiver Tanner Eilerman set up a 33-yard touchdown play by the same two players.
After both teams punted for the first time, Minster tied the score with a field goal as time expired. After starting from their own 14 with 3:17 on the clock, the Wildcats moved the ball to the Ft. Loramie 5. Facing 3rd-and-goal with no timeouts and 27.5 seconds on the clock, Kaylor dropped back to pass. However, he was sacked by Hayden Lehmkuhl. Minster was able to run their “MayDay” crew onto the field with Beckhem Stephey hitting the 28-yard field goal as time expired.
“Our special teams operation is pretty good. We spend time on just about every oddball situation you can think of,” said Minster coach SethWhiting.
The Willdcats took the lead for good with a 12-play, 64-yards drive to open the second half. Fortune was on their side early in the drive when a third-down pass was batted in the air into the hands of Tyler Bergman. Kaylor threw just three passes on the drive, hitting Brendan Halpin to for five yards to convert another third down. His 8-yarder to Taylor Fancher put the six points on the board.
After that it was their own mistakes that hurt the Wild cat offense. Penalties and snap issues thwarted their next two drives, while the defense forced Ft Loramie into back-to-back three-and-outs. Minster finished the game with eleven penalties for 93 yards.
“We had a lot of penalties and a lot of snap issues, and we’ll get those things cleaned up,” said Whiting. “And our defense, once we settled in, started playing really well. We made some really good adjustments. We were able to kind of take away what we knew coming they were going to do. They executed well in that first half.”
Eight players touched the ball on offense as the Wildcats racked up 358 yards. Carson Kaylor was 9-of-13 throwing the ball for 102 yards and two touchdowns.
“We have some incredibly skilled kids right now, and they did a great job,” said the Minster coach. “We do a good job of spreading the ball around. We’ve just got to be a little bit cleaner in our operations.”