Senior-heavy Greyhounds finish strong as section runners-up
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NEW ULM -- New Ulm Cathedral head football coach Denny Lux said that Wabasso and head coach Joe Kemp changed their game plan before the Rabbits played the Greyhounds in a 16-14 Wabasso win Friday night in the Section 2, Nine-Player championship game at Lakeview High School.
Cathedral ended its season at 8-2, with both losses coming to unbeaten Wabasso.
"In their previous games, they were taking a lot of shots down the field no matter who they were playing," Lux said. "They were throwing the long ball and trying to score early and often. But [Friday] it seemed like they were really content to just pick up first downs, throw the ball short, get a few yards and run the ball and get a few yards.
"So I think that their game plan was really to limit our possessions and our time of possessions. That was why when we got down inside the 15-yard line twice and did not score, you could tell that that was putting a lot of pressure on us. When the ball got put back in their hands it was going to be pretty time-consuming."
Lux knew that this game was going to be close.
"I had talked to the players all week in practice that this was going to be a second-half game, a fourth-quarter game, and probably come down to a 2-point play or a field goal and that is how it played out," he said. "It is a game of inches. Our first 2-point attempt the ball his us in the hands but their d-back was right there to knock it out - they made a nice play on it.
"On our second scoring drive, Andrew Stern did a super job of catching the football for the touchdown and also the 2-point conversion to give us a chance. But again that last drive of Wabasso's was get 4 or 5 yards and keep the ball moving."
Both the Rabbits and the Greyhounds came into the meeting with high-scoring offenses. But it was the defense of both teams that shined.
"Our defense stepped up, their defense stepped up, and that is what wins championship games." Lux said. "Both teams and coaches have to be proud of how their players played that game and again it came down to some inches here or there."
Next season, the Greyhounds lose running back Alex Portner, who ends his stellar high school career with a City of New Ulm record of 3,204 career rushing yards and school record 50 touchdowns. The Greyhounds will also be without senior quarterback Eli Anderson and a handful of senior defensive leaders like defensive end Lane Ruch, defensive tackle Nolan Netzke and linebackers Evan Blekestad and Camden Berg.
"This group here is a lot like those groups with Nick Simon and Kevin Larson -- we just had a lot of seniors playing," Lux said. "And we had to be able to replace those seniors year to year. We do have a real skilled player in junior Ryler Collins, and we have skilled players in our sophomore class in Blake Johnson at quarterback and Blake Aufderheide, Hudson Lieser and Will Finstad. So our main focus going into this offseason and getting into the weight room program is to build up our numbers on the offensive line."
Lux said that he was hoping that his team could get a couple of minutes at the near the end of the game that his team could drive the ball down and give senior kicker Andrew Stern a chance to win the game with a field goal.
"But it did not turn out that way - it was a great season," Lux said. "We have never dominated teams in the past like we did this past season [outscoring teams on an average of 41.4 to 11.2]. This was a testament to the whole team."