It was a win that the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers’ football team needed.

Down 24-21 to Sleepy Eye Public with 47 seconds left in the game and 63 yards away from the end zone, MVL found a way to win when quarterback Mason Cox found Colton Collum with a 14-yard touchdown pass with just 4 seconds left in the game as MVL came away with a 28-24 win.

It was the Chargers’ first win of the season.

“Both teams played hard and it was a back-and-forth game all night,” MVL head coach Jim Buboltz said. “We had the ball last and were able to put it in the end zone.”

MVL had taken a 20-12 lead thanks to an 80-yard kickoff return by Collum.

“We had some late penalties and turnovers, but our guys did not let that get them down,” Buboltz said. “We ran our 2-minute drill very well at the end of the game and that is something that we practice each day. Kevin Hulke (MVL offensive coordinator) has been talking about it for years that we practice that drill and it really came into play Friday. Our kids were very calm, worked the ball down the field.”

After suffering losses in their first four games of the season, Buboltz said that getting on the winning side of the scoreboard was something that his team deserved. “They have worked so hard and we have had the lead in couple of the games. It was a great team effort and this is something we can build on.”

Buboltz said that Collum “is a multi-dimensional player. He plays every play – he does not want to come off of the field at all. He works so hard — he is tireless worker in the weight room. First guy in and the last guy out. He embodies Charger football.”

HAALA MAKES FIRST START: Because of a concussion suffered by starting quarterback James Gillis last week, freshman Carter Haala made his first varsity start Friday night in the Greyhounds’ 25-8 loss to Murray County Central.

He was the fifth quarterback to start for Cathedral in the last 2 1/2 years.

“What you have to remember is that he was making his first start against varsity defenses that have already played four games,” Cathedral coach Denny Lux said. “And he has not played a varsity game yet. I thought that Carter did a good job running our offense. His composure was good — the team has confidence in Carter — and he did a very good job. We just got started a litte too late.”

Haala did engineer the Greyhounds’ scoring drive to start the second half that went 60 yards in 14 plays and that ate up 8 minutes and 17 seconds on the clock.

“That is what this offense can do but we just did not figure things out early enough in that first half,” Lux said. “We need to get on our blocks quicker. We understand that we have blocking schemes that work against different defenses, but our last three games we have scored just one touchdown in each game. We are not running that offense as it needs to be run.”

EAGLES DOMINATED FRIDAY: The Marshall Tigers’ football team has dominated opponents all season and that continued Friday in a 68-0 win over the Eagles.

Marshall has now outscored opponents by an average score of 52-6. They are second in Class AAAA in scoring only to Detroit Lakes, who is averaging 54 points a game and second in points allowed with an average of 6. And their average points difference each game is 46 — first in Class 4A.

“They are a very physical team,” New Ulm coach Eric Kauffmann said. “We knew that they were very strong up the middle and they were going to come blitzing like crazy, so we thought that maybe we could get to the edges. But they were quicker than we thought. After watching film (Saturday morning), we were one or two blocks away from getting a bigger run. When things do not go well right away kids can get down on themselves.”

Kauffmann said that they did not want to give up the long pass which they did accomplish. “And we took away their inside trap game. Unfortunately they got their isolation and sweep game going.”

Kauffmann said that after halftime he was looking at keeping the clock moving and protecting his players.

“You try and find positives and not getting your players hurt and keep a little bit of dignity. Our kids did not quit and when I started to take kids out in the third and fourth quarters, they did not want to come out which tells me that they care.”

STEEL NEEDS BILLET (HOST) FAMILIES: The New Ulm Steel are looking for two more host families for players this season. You are compensated financially for this. If interested, please contact Steel General Manager Bryant Black at 320-760-3030.