Minster football upsets Allen East
The #11 seeded Minster Wildcats (4-5) upset the #6 Allen East Mustangs (4-3) on the road on Oct. 17, using a 14-point fourth quarter to overcome a deficit and win 14-6.
Earlier in the week, Wildcat head coach Geron Stokes talked to the Community Post about keys to the week and they didn’t differ based on their week eight opponent in the Mustangs.
“We have to control the football, win the turnover battle and win the explosive play battle,” said Stokes at practice earlier in the week. “Be good in critical situations, on third down and in the red zone. We have to play our tails off that’s the main thing.”
“We wanted to focus on pounding the rock,” said Wildcat junior quarterback Johnny Nixon. “We wanted to get downhill, spread the defense out and run it at them every single play. Coach Stokes had a phenomenal game plan.”
Both teams punted to open the game before the Mustangs would drive 80 yards in 12 plays, scoring on a fourth and goal from the 1-yard line on a second effort push with 2:32 in the first quarter.
Wildcat senior Connor Albers would come off the edge to block the point after touchdown (PAT), giving the Mustangs a 6-0 lead.
Prior to that score, the Wildcats had punted facing a fourth and five on the Mustang 43-yard line. Out of range for a field goal but into Mustang territory enough that going for it made sense as well. But Stokes saw his defense force a punt on the Mustangs first drive and played for field position.
“We trusted our defense,” said Stokes after the game. “We’ve got a bunch of seniors that have made our defense better. What a high character win by our 12 seniors.”
On the Mustangs ensuing drive, the stopped the Mustangs from getting a first down but muffed the punt to give the Mustangs the ball on the Wildcats 25-yard line.
Seven plays later, however, Wildcat junior linebacker Austin Wellman stopped a designed quarterback run on fourth and goal from the 1-yard line.
Before the half, the Mustangs got the ball back at their 35-yard line with 1:20 left in the quarter. They drove down to the Wildcat 32-yard line but the Wildcat defense held to get the ball back, again on fourth down, and took a knee to go into the locker room trailing 6-0.
“We thought it should’ve been 7-6 at least,” said Stokes. “We fumbled going into the end zone there, but we weren’t getting beat. We were beating ourselves.”
The Wildcats would turn the ball over after receiving the second half kickoff, a tipped pass on a third and long that gave the Mustangs the ball on the Wildcat 10-yard line.
But as was par for the course for the evening, the Wildcats responded. Senior defensive lineman Nathan Bergman picked the ball in the endzone for the touchback after the ball went off a Mustang wide receivers hands.
The Wildcats got the ball with 9:07 in the third quarter and took it 79-yards in 19 plays, that included a Wellman catch for a fourth and five conversion on the Mustang 23-yard line, all the way down to the Mustang 1-yard line.
But Nixon was stuffed on fourth and goal with 21 seconds left in the third quarter after fourth straight runs from the 8-yard line.