File photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral’s Alex Portner, 12, looks for running room during the Game 2 Nine-Man Football semifinal game against Cedar Mountain on Oct. 26 at Cedar Mountain High School.
NEW ULM — When New Ulm Cathedral and Renville County West meet in Game 2 of the 9-Man Football Championship at Lakeview High School in Cottonwood on Friday at 7 p.m., both teams will come into the game with very similar statistics.
In fact, they are almost mirror images of each other.
Both teams have 7 wins and 3 losses.
Renville County is averaging 35.8 points per game and Cathedral is averaging 34.1 points per game.
The Jaguars’ defense is holding the team to 16 points per game, while the Greyhounds’ defense is allowing just 15 points per game.
And in the state QRF rankings for both teams, New Ulm Cathedral is ranked 21st and Renville County is ranked 22nd.
“They have a pretty solid football history and a quarterback who runs the ball well. He’s good at throwing, but he’s definitely a threat running with the ball.” Cathedral head football coach Denny Lux said. “That creates some problems for our defense. And on the offensive side, they’re running about five different sets, so we’ve got to find some keys from each of those sets.”
Defensively, Lux said the Jaguars look like a team that hits the ball a long way on offense.
“They don’t give up on big plays.” Lux said. “Their secondary is in a position to not give up big plays. If you’re going to move the ball against them, you’re going to need a lot of downs.”
Lux said the Jaguars’ backs have speed and good size.
“But in terms of speed, we are very well matched.” Lux said. “And at this point in the season, we’ve seen a lot of teams and individuals, so it’s just a matter of doing what got us to where we are and staying focused.”
Lux believes establishing the entire field will be important in the run game.
“We’ve been pretty good at this all year, but what I felt coming out of the Cedar Mountain game was that we had a few yards left in a different spot.” he said. “So we need to do a better job of attacking the whole field.”
Lux said defensive coordinator Jesse Nosbusch’s defense allows the Greyhounds to adapt to the Jaguars’ offense.
“They run some options, they run some changes of direction, they run some motion, and Coach Nosbusch is pretty confident that we can adapt to those.” Lux said “And hold tight on every edge and every defensive position.”
Lux said the key for the Greyhounds Thursday will be to stay focused on the sideline.
“We did a great job in the second half against Cedar Mountain.” he said. “We didn’t lose any of our focus, we kept our energy up, and it paid off in the long run. If you look at the last three games (Hills vs. Beavercreek, Nicollet and Cedar Mountain), we I feel like we have overcome the challenge. We are determined to compete.”
RCW head football coach Ryan Hebrink said the team will run the ball more than it will fly the ball.
“If you look at our yearly stats, we’re going to run as hard as we can.” he said.
RCW is led by quarterback Austin Rice and has Jacob Savig as its top rusher.
Hebrink said the team has been fairly consistent throughout the season.
“The two games that really took us away were the game against a very good soccer team at Hills Beavercreek (a 44-6 loss) and the Mountain Lake Area game (a 52-13 loss). . They kind of gave it to us. We also lost a lot to Cedar Mountain (22-19).
Hebrink, who is in his 15th year as head coach, said the key to the game for both teams will be the fundamentals.
“You have to protect the football with the ball in your hands.” he said. “Trying to be in every scheme and looking at everything, at the end of the day it’s about protecting the football and making good tackles. Good things seem to happen to teams that do that.”
The Big South Conference announces its all-conference girls tennis team, with New Ulm’s Carly Prall joining the East.
Courtesy of Adam Hasman/MLC SID ST. Paul — Martin Luther College Football received many solid individual reviews…
