Staff photo by Ari Selvey Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Kaden Peterson throws a pass during a South Central District, Silver Subdistrict football game Friday at Johnson Field.

NEW ULM — The Minnesota Valley Lutheran football team remained undefeated as they rolled past Le Sueur-Henderson 54-16 in a South Central District, Silver Subdistrict football game Friday at Johnson Field.

It was an exemplary day for Chargers quarterback Kaden Peterson, who set a school record with seven touchdown passes, nearly doubling the previous record of four touchdowns. Peterson also had 278 yards on 13 completions.

Other key players for MVL were Kyler Flunker, who had four catches for 84 yards and two touchdowns, and Bradyn Kube with four catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns. Ben Pearson added three catches for 81 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, Justin Ziemer had 10 total tackles, while Robert Trebelhorn had a fumble recovery and Pearson had an interception.

All game the Chargers were creating explosive plays on offense, while limiting the Giants to small gains.

“I thought we came off the bus well-prepared,” MVL head coach Jim Buboltz said. “They guys wanted to go right away and we came out fast, got on the scoreboard early and often. I thought that was the tone-setter then. We came out fast and set the tone right then for the rest of the game.”

The Chargers did indeed score early and often, taking three plays to score their first touchdown, a 38-yard pass from Peterson to Bendix to take a 6-0 lead. After forcing a short Giants punt, the Chargers took three more plays to score once again on a short pass from Peterson to Pearson, who took it 31 yards for the score, putting the Chargers up 12-0. MVL scored one more time in the first quarter on 12-yard pass from Peterson to Kube to give them a 20-0 lead after one quarter.

LSH had their first long drive of the game at the beginning of the second quarter, stringing together 13 plays to march deep into Charger territory but failed to convert on a fourth-and-7 on the MVL 10-yard line to turn the ball over. MVL responded with an 11-play, 90-yard drive including a 32-yard completion to Flunker that ended in a 5-yard pass to Funker to put the Chargers up 27-0.

After a quick three-and-out by the Giants, MVL had a much shorter field to score on with a 24-yard pass to Kube for a touchdown to end the half up 34-0.

While the Chargers defense continued to shut down the Giants’ offense to start off the half, forcing another three-and-out, the offense slowed down a bit on their opening drive. The Giants were able to force the first Chargers punt on their first possession of the second half but were unable to make anything of it as Pearson intercepted a pass that bounced out of the hands of the LHS receiver and took it to the Giants’ 44-yard line. On the next play, Peterson launched a pass to an open Flunker for another touchdown, giving the Chargers a 41-0 lead. The next Giants drive resulted in another turnover, this time Flunker forcing a fumble to give the Chargers the ball. With 1:31 left in the third quarter, Peterson sent his sixth touchdown pass to Pearson to give the Chargers a 47-0 lead.

LSH finally scored in the fourth quarter with 9:13 to go in the game, with George Doherty breaking away for a 23-yard rushing touchdown to put the score at 47-8. MVL scored another garbage-time touchdown with Jared Frey running it in from 3 out, to which the Giants responded with their biggest play of the game on a 72-yard touchdown from quarterback Brody Berndt to receiver Joseph Hutton to put the score at 56-16. MVL was able to take a knee following the kickoff to end the game.

MVL (3-0) will have their win streak challenged in the next two weeks, as they play Luverne, a triple-A school, on Friday, and Pipestone Area, who eliminated the Chargers in the playoffs in the past two seasons, the following week.

Buboltz believes that staying strong on defense and continuing to create big plays on offense will be key to maintaining a perfect record.

“I think our defense has set the tone for us,” Buboltz said. “And staying explosive on the offensive side, staying dangerous there, and taking care of the ball. We didn’t turn the ball over today, which was great.”