Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral’s Jevan Wilfahrt brings in a catch during the Greyhounds’ Homecoming football game with Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Friday at Johnson Field.

NEW ULM — When Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s quarterback Luke Thompson hooked up with Josh Giefer for a 39-yard touchdown pass at the end of the first half, it cut New Ulm Cathedral’s lead to 12-8 at halftime.

But Cathedral used a dominating third quarter, scoring two touchdowns to go on and top the Chargers 28-14 Friday night at Johnson Field in a Southwest District football game.

Sam Knowles ran for a pair of 2-yard touchdown runs and threw for a 26-yard scoring pass to Justin Berg. Eric Furth added a 21-yard scoring run for the Greyhounds.

Cole Thompson scored the other MVL touchdown on a 1-yard run.

Cathedral head coach Denny Lux said that his team played with a lot of energy in the game, especially in the second half.

“The thing that I was really pleased with is that we came out at halftime and we played really well,” he said. “That has been a little bit of a struggle in that first series coming out at halftime.”

Jakes got the second half going with a 42-yard run on the first play and two plays later, Furth made it 20-8 with a 21-yard touchdown run.

After the Greyhounds’ defense held MVL, it took the Greyhounds just two plays to find the end zone again and again it was another 42-yard run from Jakes that set up a Knowles 2-yard touchdown run for a 28-8 Cathedral lead less than five minutes later.

MVL head coach Jim Buboltz said that Cathedral came out and played a physical style of football.

“They wanted to get back to running the ball and we did not make enough plays on defense,” he said. “When we made it 12-8, I thought that we were making a good push and wearing them down. But the way that they came out in the second half — those first possessions in the second half — was the game.”

MVL cut the lead to 28-14 early in the fourth quarter, but Cathedral controlled the ball until late in the game.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Greyhounds found the end zone when they pieced together an impressive nine-play, 94-yard drive that ended with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Knowles to Berg.

Lux felt that that long drive set the tone.

“As a team we were able to understand what they were doing,” he said. “If you go three plays and out, you do not get a feel of what the defense is doing. But on those long drives, the guys up front understand how that defensive guy is playing.”

After the Cathedral score, the Greyhounds’ defense force a three-and-out and used that for a 38-yard touchdown drive capped by a Knowles 2-yard run for a 12-0 lead.

Furth ended with 177 yards on 23 carries for the Greyhounds, while Jakes had 18 carries for 161 yards and Knowles had six carries for 41 yards. Knowles also had 10 tackles and recovered a fumble, while Thomas Finstad and Joe Gillis were each in on 10 tackles.