NEW ULM – The New Ulm Eagles football team got a big win Saturday afternoon when they beat St. Peter 39-20.

The 39 points scored by New Ulm is the most in over 10 years and moved the Eagles to 2-2 on the season. It also moved New Ulm to sixth place in the South Central-Red District ahead of Jordan, St. Peter and Albert Lea and tied with Tri-City United.

“I was talking with a lot of the seniors after the game and they said that they had never won more than one game in a season,” said head coach Corey Kneeshaw. “It is huge from that aspect. Being 2-2 is a whole lot better than being 1-3. I am very proud of the effort that the team gave both offensively and defensively and on special teams.”

Kneeshaw said that while his team held a 12-0 halftime lead, they struggled offensively in the first half.

“We had a 40-yard touchdown run called back by an illegal motion penalty,” he said. “And we still have some issues with the exchange from the center to the quarterback. We challenged them at halftime and we had a complete effort in the second half. On our first offensive play from scrimmage, Jordan Hillesheim went on an 80-yard touchdown run.”

Kneeshaw said that his defense created a St.Peter turnover deep in the Saints territory and then scored on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Alex Portner to Cooper Yackley.

“Before you knew it we were ahead 25-0,” said Kneeshaw.

Kneeshaw said that Yackley scored on “a couple of great touchdown returns” for touchdowns (87 and 75 yards).

“On one of them we were expecting an on-side kick but Cooper fielded the kick to try and kill some time and went the distance,” said Kneeshaw.

New Ulm has two legitimate offensive weapons in Hillesheim and Yackley that are going to pose problems for teams.

“We want to get Jordan so many touches in a game, and Cooper being a receiver, we want to get the ball thrown to him,” said Kneeshaw. “But he also gets a couple of rushing attempts each game. Cooper is also our main return guy. We want the ball in their hands because they are hard to match up with. Now we need to put a full four quarters together. We have not done that yet.”

GOLFER OF THE WEEK: Kelton Schmitz of New Ulm has been named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Mens Golfer of the Week for the week of Sept. 21.

Schmitz shot rounds of 69, 71 and 72 last week in Northeastern Oklahoma State Golf Classic.

His 212 total was the top performance of any golfer from an NSIC school and tied him for 10th overall.

This is the fifth time that Schmitz, a junior, has been named NSIC Golfer of the Week.

Last year, he was named the NSIC Golfer of the Year as a sophomore.

Schmitz received the honor this past weekend in the Missouri Southern Invitational in the Shangra-La Country Club in Monkey Island, Mo.

DAVIS NAMED CO-CAPTAIN: Judd Davis, a sophomore from New Ulm, was named a co-captain for the St. Cloud State Huskies baseball team for next year.

Davis, who was named the 2016 NSIC Freshman of the Year last year, led the Huskies this year with a .450 batting average. He was also selected as the Hero Sports D-II Newcomer of the Year.

CATHEDRAL FOOTBALL PLAYERS AT COLLEGE: Collin Helget is a sophomore outside linebacker for Dakota Wesleyan, a NAIA D-II school in Brookings, S.D. Brandon Beranek is a sophomore linebacker for sixth-ranked St. John’s. He plays on special teams and has gotten some playing time as outside linebacker. He is also a member of the traveling squad. Basant Dhami is a freshman defensive lineman for fourth ranked St. Thomas.