Wildcats hang on to defeat Indians 35-33

WAPAKONETA - Minster's Bryce Schmiesing leaped into the air to make a one-handed catch on an onside kick and then held on as he fell to the turf with a group of Fort Recovery players charging at him. 

The play was metaphoric in a sense, because it allowed Minster to hold on for the win, too. 

The Wildcats survived a furious fourth-quarter rally by the Indians with a two-point conversion stop and Schmiesing's onside kick snag as they escaped with a 35-33 victory in the Division VII Region 28 title game on Saturday night at Harmon Field in Wapakoneta. 

"They just made a ton of plays throughout the course of the game, and we answered well, it just wasn't well enough," Fort Recovery coach Brent Niekamp said. "That's the ballgame. We did that back and forth for four quarters. We just came up short." 

A team that lost four straight games during the regular season is now in the state final four. And the Wildcats had to knock off the same team that had beat them 33-21 in September and in last year's regional final. 

Next up for Minster is a date with McComb next Saturday night back at Harmon Field. The Panthers defeated Crestview 35-28 in double overtime in Lima.

"The biggest thing has been our eight seniors, who have held this thing together and fought like crazy," Minster coach Geron Stokes said. "We were a really bad football team back then - a really bad football team ... they've just been unbelievable."

"It's unbelievable," Minster quarterback Jared Huelsman said. "I think those four games were kind of needed. It helped us bounce back and kind of fueled us." 

Huelsman - the reigning MAC Player of the Year - was rather unbelievable himself on Saturday night. He threw for 201 yards, ran for an additional 133 yards and accounted for four touchdowns (two passing, two rushing). Jon Niemeyer had three catches for 82 yards and two touchdowns and Isaac Schmiesing added three catches for 78 yard to lead the Minster offense in a back-and-forth game filled with big plays on both sides.

Will Homan finished his stellar postseason run for Fort Recovery with 24 carries for 167 yards to go along with three touchdowns. Caleb Martin went 10-of-17 for 191 yards with a rushing and passing score. Jason Roessner added five catches for 72 yards.

The Wildcats went 14 plays, 67 yards on their first drive, riding Huelsman and Bryce Schmiesing the whole way. It took Minster just six plays to get into the red zone, the highlight play was a 25-yard run by Huelsman. Minster faced a fourth-and-goal from the three when Bryce Schmiesing finished off the drive with a TD run at the 4:53 mark of the first quarter.

Homan had a 45-yard run on Fort Recovery's second play on offense to put the ball at the Minster 11-yard line. The Indians, however, were limited to just seven yards on three straight runs, setting up a fourth-and-three from the four. The Minster defense held on the ensuing play but failed to capitalize on the following drive.

And the Indian special teams brought the heat on Bryce Schmiesing's punt attempt - tackling him at the one-yard line before he could get off the punt. Homan shot in for a one-yard touchdown run on Fort Recovery's first play to even the score at 7-all with 11:50 to play in the second.   

Each team had drives stall out in the other's territory over the rest of the second quarter. The Indians were forced to punt with 2:20 to go before halftime and Minster took over at its own 49. 

Huelsman picked up a 33-yard chunk on the first play to put the Wildcats into the red zone. He capped the drive with a one-yard TD plunge as time expired in the half to give Minster a one-score lead. 

Fort Recovery fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half and Minster recovered at the 28-yard line. After a delay of game penalty knocked the Wildcats back five yards, Huelsman found Niemeyer for a 33-yard touchdown to put them up 21-7. 

Midway through the third, the Indians marched 80 yards down the field to put six on the scoreboard. The key plays were a 17-yard run by Caleb Martin, a third-down conversion run by Roessner and Homan's seven-yard TD run. A missed extra point left the score at 21-13. 

But Niemeyer returned the ensuing kickoff to the Fort Recovery 49. Shortly after, Huelsman launched a deep ball to Niemeyer, who jumped into the air for the catch in-between two defenders and trotted into the end zone for a 41-yard touchdown. 

Back came the Indians, though, with Martin hitting Andrew Stocker for a 41-yard touchdown to cap a six-play, 63-yard drive and make the score 28-20 with 10:49 left in the game. 

Later in the quarter, Minster re-extended its lead to two scores - and it was Huelsman again finding the end zone, this time on a three-yard keeper with 4:36 left. 

Then came the Fort Recovery rally.   

Martin had three straight long completions on the ensuing drive, the first to Roessner, the second to Payton Jutte and one to Cade Wendel to advance the ball to the Wildcat 26. Homan ran for a 26-yard touchdown on the next play to make the score 35-27 with 3:57 to play. 

The Indian defense forced a quick three-and-out on Minster's next series and the offense went to work again. Fort Recovery started at its own 19 with 2:07 left. Martin dumped a pass to Homan in the flats for a gain of 20 on the first play. He hit Wendel for a 33-yard gain seconds later. Fort Recovery faced a fourth-and-four from the Minster 22 and Martin found Roessner to keep the chains moving. Martin scrambled and dove at the pylon for an eight-yard TD  with 1 minute remaining. 

But the two-point pass attempt was broken up by the Minster defense and Bryce Schmiesing made his one-handed grab to seal the deal. 

"Dudes got to be dudes," Stokes said. "You see Bryce Schmiesing go up and get that onside kick? We tell our players at this time, this is it. Your players have got to be players - and they have been, daggone! ... But our role players, our freshmen, our sophomores and our practice guys have all been great. Our practices have been elite. That's just a testament to our guys' character." 

"I'm proud of the way we came back," Niekamp said. "I'm proud of the seniors and their career and the expectations that our program has now that those guys helped put into place. Now, we expect to be on fields like this, in games like this, against opponents like this. This is normal for us now, and it needs to stay that way."