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Prep Football Preview: Chargers seek first win; Greyhounds, Eagles face tough competition

NEW ULM — Week number five on the local football scene has only New Ulm Cathedral playing at home on Friday night when they host unbeaten Wabasso in a Southwest District, East Subdistrict contest at Johnson Field.

Meanwhile, Minnesota Valley Lutheran heads to Janesville to battle Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton in a Mid-Southeast District, West Subdistrict meeting and New Ulm High School travels to Belle Plaine to face off against the Tigers in a South Central District, Red Subdistrict game.

All games have 7 p.m. kickoffs.

MINNESOTA VALLEY LUTHERAN (0-5) AT JWP (0-5) FRIDAY 7 P.M. JANESVILLE

Last year, these two teams met in the Section 2A finals for a trip to the Minnesota State Football Tournament on the line.

This meeting sees both teams in a different boat as they are each seeking their first win of the season.

“They are under a new coach and they are struggling with the same identity things that we are,” MVL coach Jim Buboltz said. “They graduated some pretty good seniors from that team and they are having trouble putting that group together. A lot of their scores look identical to ours and if you look at all of the stats for the year, they are almost exactly identical.”

For the season, the Chargers have been outscored 26-6 in games while the Bulldogs have been outscored 27-8 in their contests.

Buboltz said that the Bulldogs’ offense is trying to establish a power running game.

“They will try and spread you out, but it is just mainly the split back type of look and trying to run their power to one side of the field,” Buboltz said. “We want to stop that obviously.”

“They are young like us – they have had to replace a lot of guys that played some important downs for them.”

And for the Chargers, this can be a game where they can correct mistakes from the past and keep a positive energy.

Buboltz knows that with both teams struggling, the first touchdown on Friday is going to be big.

“Both teams have struggled with that this year,” Buboltz said. “This game is the biggest test mentally of the whole year because we are playing a team that is in the same boat as we are and have had the same similar experience as we have this year. The team that will probably win is the team that can put that stuff behind them and go forward. I am going to put this on our seniors to come up with the answers. Score first and take care of the ball — and the kids have to believe.”

WABASSO (5-0) AT NEW ULM CATHEDRAL (4-1) FRIDAY 7 P.M JOHNSON FIELD

According to the latest QRF ratings, this is a game between the top two teams in Section 3A.

Wabasso has averaged 44 points a game and allowed only 8, while the Greyhounds are putting an average of 32 points a game while allowing 17.

“They are playing good football just like they did last year,” Cathedral coach Denny Lux said. “They are a well-coached team on offense and defense. Every game that we have seen on them on film — they are real solid again this year.”

Lux feels that the strength of the Rabbits is that they follow their assignments. On offense, the Rabbits will mix things up.

“They will give you some passing sets that they will also run out of,” Lux said. “I think that they are going to be 50/50 between the run and the pass.”

On defense, Lux said that his team needs to play aggressive.

“We need to make sure that our linebackers are stepping up and getting their reads early,” Lux said. “Wabasso will do some pulling and will also do a little bit of false pulling — they will pull their guards and tackles. We need to get an early read when the ball is snapped.”

Lux also feels that his team needs to keep running their offense.

“We are learning more and more about our offense,” Lux added. “We are learning it because of what teams are doing defensively — we are learning on how we need to adjust. That is the biggest thing — last week against Adrian we must have seen at least five different defensive looks from them. But our kids responded well.”

Lux said that the key to the game is going to be keeping up with the fast tempo that Wabasso likes to play at.

“Wabasso and Cathedral have had a lot of good games over the years and this is going to be another one,” Lux said.

NEW ULM HIGH SCHOOL (3-2) AT BELLE PLAINE (2-3) FRIDAY 7 P.M.

They say that records can sometimes be deceiving and that may well be the case for the Eagles’ opponent Friday.

“They are a good team,” Eagles coach Corey Kneeshaw said. “They are 2-3, but they had that unfortunate incident (in week four) when they had to forfeit a game to Jordan because of the impetigo incident, which I think would have been a good game. And their starting quarterback (Carsen Ladd) has been out for a good portion of their last three games with a knee injury and he is back this week. And their running back (Marcus Walsh) is back, so they are going to provide a challenge for us this week.”

Kneeshaw said that with the Tigers having both players back, it takes them from being a one-dimensional offense to now being a balanced offense. And Walsh is a solid back as he rushed for almost 250 yards against St.Peter this season.

“He is a bulldozer of a back,” Kneeshaw said. “They will probably run to set up their passing but (Ladd) may be a little rusty.”

Offensively for the Eagles, Kneeshaw wants to not only get Connor Foley involved, but all of the New Ulm receivers.

“Hunter (Ranweiler) did a nice job of spreading the ball around against St.Peter,” Kneeshaw said. “Foley had six catches, Luke Scheid had five receptions and Braden Zimmerman had four catches. And we need to get Reece Melby going. He is our fourth wide receiver. He is a 6-foot-4 sophomore. So when we can be that dynamic, we are not just going all to one person. We can be a difficult matchup for the other team because you cannot focus on just one player.”

This is also a game where the Eagles, who have two regular season games left, can do something the program has not done since 2008. Win four games in a season.

“There is a lot of incentive for the kids because we want to host a home playoff game,” Kneeshaw said. “If we can get to five wins, I think that we will be hosting a playoff game. We control our own destiny. We have not only gotten the student body here buying in, but also we are getting the town to buy in also.”

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