NEW ULM — The third week of the high school football season sees a big local matchup on Friday at Johnson Field as New Ulm Cathedral meets Minnesota Valley Lutheran in a Southwest District-East Division game.

Also in New Ulm that night, New Ulm High School hosts Maple River at New Ulm High School in a nonconference meeting.

Both games have a 7 p.m. kickoff.

NEW ULM CATHEDRAL (0-2) AT MINNESOTA VALLEY LUTHERAN (0-2) JOHNSON FIELD

The last time these two teams met was back in 2016 when the Chargers defeated the Greyhounds 29-16 during the regular season and then 8-0 in the first round of the Section 2A playoffs.

Friday both teams enter the meeting looking for their first win of the season. MVL lost 36-0 to Springfield while Cathedral fell 24-22 to Dawson-Boyd.

“We know that they are well-coached and it looks like they are running that spread offense with the veer,” Cathedral coach Denny Lux said. “That seems to be their main goal which it was a number of years ago. There are things that we have seen but it has been a few years.”

Lux said that the Chargers are going to be very precise in what they do on offense and defense.

“They have good size up front on both sides of the line and they have speed with (Carlos) Ramirez and (Colton) Collum in the backfield,” Lux said. “They also have a good receiver in Jace Marotz.”

Lux thinks that the Chargers will stick more to a ground assault.

“You will see a passing set but it is more to spread you out and then run the veer,” Lux said. “Their sophomore quarterback Luke Thompson has done a good job running the ball and he can throw it — he can run the straight option or pitch it late.”

Lux said that offensively his team has been working on their timing in the backfield. ”

We feel that we are just not quite their with our handoffs or fakes,” he said.

His team’s two losses were games that could have gone either way.

“For us it is just a matter of staying positive and making the plays,” Lux said. “These last two games [two losses by a combined six points] have come down to a play here or there. We cannot give up the big play and we have done that in the last two games.”

Chargers head coach Jim Buboltz has some familiarity with the Michigan T offense that the Greyhounds run.

“We scrimmaged GFW who runs that offense and they are 2-0 so we have some familiarity with it,” Buboltz said. “The big thing we need to do is stop the fullback –the Michigan T is based off of the fullback. You cannot guess where the ball is going to go. They have good ballskills that they have a difficult time knowing who has the ball. But yet the fullback is still the key and that does not change if it is an “I” offense. Everything still runs through the fullback and Tony [Geiger, Cathedral fullback] has had a good start this year. If you are going to make a mistake, make it on the fullback.”

Buboltz said that offensively his team has to be more consistent especially on first and second downs.

“That way we can be in better position on third down,” Buboltz said. “When you can’t get enough yards on the first two downs you are more predictable on third down.”

Buboltz said that his team has been big-play orientated the last few years.

“But it has been a couple of years since we have consistently moved the ball a couple of yards at a crack so we need to be more consistent that way. We have a lot of play-makers but they are all trying to make the big play all of the time. For your offense to work you just need to make the simple play.’

MAPLE RIVER (1-1) AT NEW ULM HIGH SCHOOL (1-1) FRIDAY 7 P.M. NUHS FIELD

If you want to watch a wide open offense, the Maple River Eagles will try and display that Friday night against New Ulm.

“They are a spread gun team that will run four receivers most of the time and whether they are two wide outs or trips on one side,” New Ulm head coach Eric Kauffmann said. “They have an athletic quarterback and they like to throw it around a lot. They will probably throw it between 35-40 times a game.”

Kauffmann said that defensively he will show a 4-4 front that may well go into a 4-2 because they will be spread out.

He said that defensively, there will be some personnel shuffling.

“Nolan Drill and Cole Ranweiler wil be more outside linebackers,” Kauffmann said.

Kauffmann said that defensively it is harder to adjust to a team that passes the ball a lot.

“They can throw more things at you,” he said. “I like playing to a team like Belle Plaine because you can pack the box on them. Maple River will widen everything out. They have an athletic quarterback that can run so you have to put a spy on him so he does not take off and run on you. He is their best athlete.”

Kauffmann said that he will stick to his normal game plan offensively.

“We are going to run off-tackle until they pinch us down and then we will run wide,” Kauffmann said. “We can go inside or outside.”