Saturday, August 25th, 2012
Wildcats' defense shuts out Redskins
By Bruce Monnin
FORT LORAMIE - In the last game Fort Loramie played last season, the Redskins were knocked out of the playoffs by the Minster Wildcats, 30-7.
It is a new season, but the final result was the same, as Minster rolled to a 28-0 victory on Friday night in the 2012 season opener.
The Wildcats wasted no time getting started as Jay Eilerman returned the opening kickoff 54 yards to the Redskins' 33-yard line. Five plays later, Minster's Adam Niemeyer completed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Devon Poeppelman for an early 7-0 lead.
On their next possession, the Wildcats took a little longer but still reached the end zone. An 11-play drive was capped when Troy Kaufman received a backward pass and then surprised Fort Loramie's defense by launching a 25-yard touchdown pass to Poeppelman.
The rest of the first half consisted of missed opportunities for the Wildcats. On the Wildcats' next possession, they crossed the goal line twice, but both scores were called back because of penalties. In fact, Minster racked up 59 penalty yards on the series and at one point were facing a second down with 55 yards to go.
"We're not worried about penalties if they are playing hard, and I thought the kids were playing hard. Was I happy to have second down and 55?" remarked Minster's coach Nate Moore. "Of course not. Sometimes you have to live with some of that."
Fort Loramie returned the resulting punt to Minster's six-yard line for their most serious scoring threat of the night. But on fourth down from Minster's one-yard line, the Wildcats' defense rose up and held Redskins' back Delaunte Thornton to no gain. Minster's defense held Fort Loramie to just 35 total yards in the first half.
Poeppelman intercepted a Redskins' pass as time expired in the opening half and threaded his way 83 yards for an apparent back-breaking touchdown, but the score was negated because of another Minster penalty.
The second half belonged to the Wildcats. They moved the ball 95 yards in nine plays for their third score, which came on a 19-yard pass from Niemeyer to Eilerman. Minster only needed three plays to go the needed 71 yards for its final touchdown. First, it was an 11-yard run by Niemeyer, followed by a 20-yard run by Korey Schultz before Eli Wolf scooted 40 yards for a TD.
Niemeyer had an efficient night passing the ball, completing 13 of 16 attempts for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Schultz was the Wildcats' workhorse on the ground, toting the pigskin 20 times for 86 yards.
Minster hosts Sidney Lehman (0-1) next Friday while Fort Loramie will be traveling to play New Bremen.
