Cathedral repeats the feat
Greyhounds beat Tigers for return trip to stateBy Jim Bastian — Journal Sports Writer
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NEW ULM - New Ulm Cathedral forced five second- half Springfield turnovers and turned them into 13 points as the Greyhounds erased a 14-7 halftime deficit and came away with a 27-14 win to capture the Section 2A title.
Ross Grathwohl caught two touchdown passes from Kevin Larson, Zach Fischer scored on a 1-yard run and Michael Glawe bolted for a 59-yard touchdown run.
Glawe rushed for 109 yards on 13 carries with Frank Johnson carrying the ball 17 times for 84 yards. Kevin Larson ended up with 70 yards passing on eight completions.
The Greyhounds play Blooming Prairie at 3 p.m. Nov. 14 at Rochester Technical College.
"They did to us what we did to them last year," said Springfield coach Paul Dunn, who saw his team turn the ball over five out of six times on their second half possessions. "We knew that we had to take care of the football - we did that in the first half. But Cathedral made some plays tonight."'
Cathedral took a 7-0 lead in the second quarter when Larson hit Grathwohl for a short 5-yard scoring strike at the 6:09 mark that capped a long 85 yard, 20 play drive.
But the Tigers, behind the passing of Jordan Milbrath, scored on their next two possessions.
First, Milbrath found Bill Krueger for a 37-yard touchdown pass that tied the game at 7-7 before the Tiger defense forced Cathedral to punt.
On their next drive it was Milbrath that drove them 69 yards on nine plays when he hooked up with Alex Fink for a 5-yard touchdown pass for a 14-7 halftime lead.
Cathedral coach Denny Lux said that his team didn't panic despite the halftime deficit.
"We did not push any alarm buttons," he said. "The team knows that if you are going to go deep in the playoffs, you are not always going to be leading all of the time. We made some blocking adjustments, kept our confidence and played one heck of a second half against a good football team."
Cathedral tied the game at 14-14 on its second possession of the third quarter going 79 yards on 13 plays.
But the final yard of that drive proved to be the hardest.
The Greyhounds had moved from their own 21- yard line to the Tiger 25- yard line. A 23-yard pass from Larson to Greg Genelin put the ball on the Springfield 2-yard line.
Three runs earned the Greyhounds just one yard before, on fourth down from the 1, Zach Fischer bowled his way into the end zone to tie the game at 14-14.
On the third play of the next Springfield possession, Kyle Fischer stepped in front of a Milbrath pass to give the Greyhounds the ball on the Tigers' 36-yard line. They moved the ball to the Tiger 5-yard line.
From there Larson and Grathwohl hooked up again for a 5-yard touchdown pass as time expired in the third quarter.
The score lifted Cathedral to a 21-14 lead going into the final quarter.
"Ross has great hands," Lux said. "And Kevin has really grown into the position of quarterback and leader."
Grathwohl said that the catch was exhilarating.
"We stayed positive and strong when we were down," he said. "The line and Kevin did great."
Springfield's next possession again resulted in a turnover, this coming when Glawe recovered a Tiger fumble midway through the fourth quarter.
Three plays later, Glawe got his reward as he rambled 59 yards for a touchdown and 27-14 lead with just over seven minutes left in the game.
It was a touchdown that Glawe said was predicted by Larson.
"When we got in the huddle and he called the play, he told me 'Glawe, you cut it up and go all the way," Larson said. "You score the touchdown to seal this game."
