NEW ULM — Week 7 in high school football in New Ulm sees an early start as New Ulm Cathedral heads to Adrian to take on the Dragons for a Thursday night contest.

Both New Ulm High School and Minnesota Valley Lutheran play at home Friday night with the Eagles hosting Belle Plaine and the Chargers entertaining Murray County Central.

All three games have 7 p.m. kick-offs.

This is also a short week for football teams because next week is MEA Week with games being played on Wednesday night.

BELLE PLAINE (1-5) AT NEW ULM HIGH SCHOOL (0-6) FRIDAY 7 P.M. NEW ULM HIGH SCHOOL

In the Eagles last two games, they have played two teams with a combined record of 11-1 in Fairmont and Waseca. Fairmont is 6-0 and Waseca is 5-1.

Now the Eagles host the Tigers of Belle Plaine, who come in with one win on the season — that coming in their first game of the season and lost last week to TCU.

“Belle Plaine has not changed their head coach but they have changed their offense thee times in three years,” Eagles coach Eric Kauffmann said. “Two years ago they were running the same offense that Cathedral runs and then they went to a spread offense. Now they run a spread offense and sometimes go into a double wing — they do not do anything fancy. They are very similar to a Waseca — when they line up they only have a couple of options. It is ‘here it is, here we come and try to stop us.’

“This is simply going to be which team wants it more,” Kauffmann said. “We are both going to be coming in looking for a win — we are both section teams and both fighting not to be at the bottom of the section so you do not have to play a Fairmont or Waseca in the first round. So I expect it to be a pretty good game.”

Kauffmann said that the key to the game will be which team can get momentum.

“If we can get momentum we can do a lot of good things,” he said. “But when we don’t we make mistakes and they do too. This game will be the tale of who can be successful and momentum and whoever does will win this game.”

Kauffmann said that offensively he wants his team to kick their tackles down and get outside.

“I do think that if we can get outside on them we can do some damage. We also want to do some short play-action stuff because if we can run the ball and get their linebackers to come up we can score. A win Friday would really boost our confidence going into our last game at home Wednesday against Worthington.”

MURRAY COUNTY CENTRAL (6-0) AT MINNESOTA VALLEY LUTHERAN (3-3) FRIDAY 7 P.M. JOHNSON FIELD

The unbeaten Rebels of Murray County Central come into their meeting with the Chargers averaging just over 42 points per game while allowing only nine points per game.

The Rebels have put up 40 points or more in three of their games and put up 73 points in one of their contests.

“Some people have them ranked in the top three in Class A,” Chargers coach Jim Buboltz said. “They are potent on offense — they will run and pass both. This will be one of the most complete teams that we have seen all year.

“They do a lot of things well and they can make the things that they do pretty easy with the way that they move the ball. They have a lot of seniors on the team and they have a lot of goals set for them.”

Buboltz said that the Rebels will primarily run the ball.

“They like to pull both guards and tackles — they want to get their big linemen moving too. They have some athletes on the outside who they want to get the ball to but they mainly run the ball.”

Buboltz said that the Chargers need to control what they can control.

“And that is our defense. We have to do a better job defensively. We have struggled against the run for a couple of games so we need to do better.

“And when we do get on offense, we need to make them uncomfortable,” he said. “You can’t just line up against them but we can’t do that. You need to put them in positions defensively where they are not as comfortable. We need to control the ball offensively and get some doubt in their minds. They have not been challenged all that much.”

Their closest game was a 24-18 win over Martin County West last week.

“We are going to put the ball in [Chargers quarterback] Luke Thompson’s hands more and let him make some good decisions. He can be pretty dangerous. And our offensive line has to control things. We need to stay in the game early and create some doubt in their minds as the game goes on.”

NEW ULM CATHEDRAL (3-3) AT ADRIAN (2-4) THURSDAY 7 P.M. ADRIAN

The Greyhounds meet a familiar team Thursday when they meet the Dragons in a road contest.

“They have been in our district for a number of years now and they have a number of offensive sets that they run their plays out of,” Cathedral coach Denny Lux said. “And defensively they are always a very physical team and so are we. This will be a game where the team that stays disciplined and gets the job done on the field that will come out on top.”

The Dragons will use a running game, using different ways to attack the defense with their tailback.

“He runs hard behind some nice linemen so this will be a test for our run-stop game. We have been doing pretty well in the secondary and if our guys up front do their job that will be a big part for us.”

Lux believes that the way the Greyhounds played in the second half last week against MVL will help this week.

“Our guys understand what level that they have to play at. All 11 guys played hard in that game and that is what can propel us going into the late season and into the playoffs.”

Lux said that this is a big game for the Greyhounds in the section.

“Ourselves and USC are in the middle at 3-3 and Lester Prairie is right above us at 4-2 and then you have Mayer Lutheran and GFW each with one loss. Our guys know that we are playing for a home playoff game. That is what this game and our next game [at home Wednesday against Wabasso] is all about.

“We cannot give up a big play that takes pressure off of their offense,” he said. “They play tough football down there — this will be a tough game.”