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Cathedral continues to cruise; New Ulm falls despite historic night by Foley

NEW ULM — For the third time this season, New Ulm Cathedral scored 40 or more points in a game as they put 44 points on the board in a 44-6 drubbing of Tracy-Milroy-Balaton.

And not only was the offense running on all cylinders, but the Greyhounds’ defense also played well according to head coach Denny Lux.

“Coach (Jesse) Nosbush had our defensive players in the right spots all night long,” Lux said after seeing his team improve to 5-2 on the season to solidify their No. 2 spot in Section 3A behind Wabasso. “I thought that our defensive ends (B.J. Mages and Blake Olson) and our linebackers (Tyler Wilson and John Gillis) did a really good job of reading the plays and tackling the right guy. From the start of the game — defensively we were real solid.”

He was also happy with the offense that saw the return of quarterback Jacob Manderfeld who had recovered from ACL surgery from an injury last season.

“(Friday) was the first night that we used Jacob at quarterback this season,” Lux said. “Josh Seidl has done a super, super job at quarterback in getting our offense going and our season going on a positive note. But it was time for Jacob to come back at quarterback. He brings the play-action passing game with him plus he had a few runs that kept drives going.

“The guys have been supportive all year long to Josh and now to Jacob,” Lux said. “I am happy for Jacob because it has been a long road to recovery for him. He makes our offense more well-rounded.”

Lux said that Manderfeld was not gun-shy in his return at quarterback. “We had him play some defensive back two games ago in the second half against Adrian and all game against Wabasso. He knew and we knew then he was ready to step in and play quarterback.”

Another aspect of the Greyhounds offense that a lot of other teams do not have is a three-headed monster at running back with Nate Hauser, David Berg and Colton Braulick.

“We had been a little bit right-handed with Braulick and Berg,” Lux said. “But Friday we really got Hauser going to the left side. The carries were pretty much even. And our offensive line is adjusting to where the blocks are and our running backs are carrying out their fakes. This offense was the right time for this year — it fits us pretty well.”

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS FOR EAGLES: The positive news coming out of the New Ulm Eagles 57-24 loss to Jordan was that wide receiver Connor Foley set a school and state record with 320 receiving yards in a game.

Earlier in the season, Foley had totaled 279 yards receiving — then second in the state to Cannon Falls Robby Hedeen, whose record he broke Friday.

Foley also established a single season school receiving yards record of 991 and currently has 14 touchdown catches on the year.

Foley caught touchdown passes of 71, 75, 64 and 5 yards with the 71-yard pass coming from Ranweiler before an injury forced Tyler Walls to take over at quarterback.

The bad news, besides the loss, was a first quarter knee injury to starting quarterback Hunter Ranweiler that forced him to leave the game. Early indications say that he maybe sidelined for Wednesday’s home game against Fairmont also.

It was also a game that was not the best tackling performance of the season according to head coach Corey Kneeshaw.

“Jordan has some speed,” Kneeshaw said. “And we did a bad job of tackling — we just did not wrap up. They ran through our arm tackles. They played to their strengths and they attacked our weaknesses.”

The Eagles trailed all game, falling behind 44-12 at halftime.

“They were fast and it seemed like they were in another gear from us,” Kneeshaw said.

Kneeshaw said that he was very happy with the job that Walls did in relief at quarterback, throwing for 276 yards and three touchdowns.

“He did not get a lot of reps this season because he was our starting center,” Kneeshaw said. “But this summer he did get a lot of work at quarterback in our seven-on-seven passing camp. He was very committed with the playbook — we had no problem with him coming in and gunslinging it. And Foley was double-covered most of the game.”

POOR START DOOMS CHARGERS: High school football games are divided into four, 12 minute quarters.

Friday night, the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers played decent football for the last 39 minutes of their game against Medford. But lackadaisical play for the first nine minutes resulted in 20 points for Medford and a 29-14 loss for MVL.

If you take away those first nine minutes, it could have been a 14-9 win for MVL as Medford — after their first three scoring drives — was hampered by costly penalties almost every seres ranging from holding to personal fouls.

This was a game the Chargers should have won, but it takes 48 minutes of good football to win.

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