Staff photo by Jeremy Behnke Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Luke Thompson sneaks in past the goal line during Friday’s football game against St. James at Johnson Field. MVL defeated St. James 60-13.

NEW ULM — After a Week 1 loss to Dawson-Boyd last Friday, Minnesota Valley Lutheran wanted to get on the scoreboard early against St. James in Friday night’s contest.

The Chargers and Luke Thompson did just that.

Thompson took the opening kickoff 81 yards just 12 seconds into the game. The Chargers got the early lead they were looking for and then some, routing St. James 60-13 at Johnson Field Friday afternoon.

MVL had seven different players score a touchdown in the contest, including two from Luke Thompson. Cole Thompson, Bradyn Kube, Benjamin Price, Kyler Flunker, Cole Dressel and Kaden Peterson also got into the end zone.

Price finished the game with 11 carries for 101 yards. Luke Thompson scored two rushing touchdowns, threw for one and had the special teams touchdown. He was 8 of 13 passing for 153 yards and he also had an interception that stopped a St. James drive deep in MVL territory early in the game.

Garrett Parker had 11 tackles to lead the defense.

Luke Thompson, the senior quarterback, said the offensive line gave him plenty of protection on Friday.

“Line took a huge step today, obviously last Friday [in the loss] we didn’t quite perform as a team, but the line made big strides today, they did their job,” Thompson said.

The Chargers got early touchdowns from the Thompson brothers to go up 16-0, but St. James scored with 5:42 left in the second quarter to make it 16-6. After that, MVL scored the next 38 points and went into halftime with a 32-6 advantage.

Touchdowns by Kube and Price, both coming with successful 2-point conversions, made it even more fun for the Chargers. MVL converted on all four 2-point conversions in the first half.

“It’s always a great thing when you get everybody in and you get everybody going, it’s great for the team as a whole, keeps your morale high and the chemistry [high],” Thompson said.

MVL opened the second half with another touchdown from Luke Thompson and a 12-yard run by Flunker made it 46-6. MVL scored another touchdown, this one by Dressel, to grab a 54-6 lead with 6 seconds left in the third quarter.

MVL’s final touchdown came when Peterson, the backup quarterback, scored on a keeper to make it 60-13.

MVL (1-1) has an extra day of rest next week and will play at Martin County West next Saturday. The team knows that this is a big week for them at practice, too.

“Just keep it going, we gotta keep the momentum flowing, we gotta keep pushing each other at practice, that’s where it all starts,” Thompson said.