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Cathedral, NUHS host Week 8 games on Wednesday

NEW ULM — The final week of the regular season for local high school football teams is here which means games on Wednesday night because of MEA Week.

New Ulm High School and New Ulm Cathedral both have home contests on Wednesday while Minnesota Valley Lutheran is on the road.

Also seedings for teams come out Thursday with playoffs starting next Tuesday.

SPRINGFIELD (2-5) AT NEW ULM CATHEDRAL (5-2) WEDNESDAY 7 P.M. JOHNSON FIELD

Both the Tigers and the Greyhounds are coming off wins last week with Springfield defeating Sleepy Eye 18-15 and Cathedral dismantling Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 44-6.

“Like always, their coaching staff does such a good job with their players so this year they have a real skilled quarterback in Decker Scheffler,” Cathedral head coach Denny Lux said. “And he has some nice receivers. They are using him to throw the ball but they are still using their veer offense. So in this short week we really have to kind of cover both offenses of the spread offense and then the veer.”

The Tigers’ spread offense will try and stretch the Cathedral defense on the field and try and get some mismatches with some linebackers.

“We have to be sure we are matched up with their speed and skilled players,” Lux said. “And their veer offense over the years has always given teams trouble. They beat a real good Sleepy Eye team last week so they are building confidence — they are playing their better football now.”

Lux said that despite it being a short week, they are playing a familiar opponent in the Tigers.

“We each know each other well and that makes it easier to prepare for,” Lux said.

FAIRMONT (6-1) AT NEW ULM (3-4) WEDNESDAY 7 P.M. NEW ULM HIGH SCHOOL

The only loss that Fairmont has had this season came at the hands of a good Waseca team by a score of 14-9. Other than that, the Cardinals have been on a roll defeating such teams as Jordan 41-26 and Belle Plaine 27-7.

“They are a good team,” Eagles coach Corey Kneeshaw said. “On film they do not look very big but they are very athletic.They get the job done both offensively and defensively. We have our hands full — I think that it is a good thing being a short week. We did not face each other last year so there is no familiarity in facing each other.”

He said that the Cardinals’ quarterback [Nate Kallenbach] does not have a great arm “but he is very accurate. And they are not afraid to run the quarterback draws or traps out of that motion. And when he passes the ball, he places the ball where he wants it and where it needs to be every time.”

A loss Wednesday would more than likely send New Ulm back to Waseca for another meeting with the Bluejays.

He also said that New Ulm quarterback Hunter Ranweiler got good news regarding his knee injury.

“There is no structural damage and he is in a brace right now,” Kneeshaw said. “With the short week I want to be very cautious with him — he has a lot more riding on this than just football.”

But New Ulm will be without Alex Portner who is out for the remainder of the season with a fractured rib.

“He was injured in the Jordan game on a dirty play from a Jordan player and I have sent in a copy of the video to the referee’s association asking them why the hit was not a foul — he got horse collared and another player jumps and lands on him.”

MINNESOTA VALLEY LUTHERAN (0-7) AT KENYON-WANAMIGO (3-4) WEDNESDAY 7 P.M. KENYON

MVL head football coach Jim Buboltz said that he has learned a lot about the Knights in the last 24 hours.

“They have played in a lot of close games this year,” Buboltz said about the Knights. “They have a pretty stout defense and they like to throw the ball on offense and they have a strong running game. And they play in a tough area with teams like Lewiston and Triton and Caledonia. We are gong to have to be ready to go.”

It is also a long 85-mile trip from New Ulm to Kenyon and that can also affect a team.

“That is as comparable as the old playoff games at Luverne,” Buboltz said. “It can be difficult on the players but we wil leave in plenty of time to get out and walk around. We went to Faribault last year.”

When playoffs do start, the Chargers will play an away game.

“We are coming off of a really good fourth quarter the other night and so we want to build off of that,” he said. “Both of these teams are coming off of a short week so it can come down to how can the kids bounce back quick. But it gets you in the playoff mode too.”

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