Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral’s Brock Carlson (51) sacks Madelia quarterback Eric Anderson during the Greyhounds’ Homecoming football game at Johnson Field on Friday night.

NEW ULM — Josh Bentler scored three first-quarter touchdowns as New Ulm Cathedral scored on five of its first six first-half possessions as the Greyhounds ran by Madelia 49-14 Friday night in a Nine-Man South District, West Subdistrict game at Johnson Field.

Bentler scored on runs of 45, 42 and 18 in the first 12 minutes. Jevan Wilfahrt added scoring runs of 2 and 3 yards for the Greyhounds (4-1), with Jaden Helget scoring on a 31-yard run and freshman Lane Ruch adding an 11-yard run.

Bentler carried the ball 16 times for 147 yards, with Helget ending with 100 yards on seven carries.

Defensively, Joe Gillis and Brock Carlson each had 11 tackles, with Landon Klawitter adding nine tackles.

Eric Anderson scored on a 3-yard run, with Kyle Piestsch getting into the end zone from 2 yards out for the Blackhawks (0-5).

“Our offensive line did a really nice job tonight,” Cathedral head coach Denny Lux said. “We were getting a lot of looks with their linebackers coming up tight — their safeties were playing tight — but the guys picked up the blocks. And our backs of Bentler, [Rylan] Koopmann and Helget made really good breaks and cuts. We really looked good that first half.”

The Greyhounds, who travel to Nicollet next Friday, took an 8-0 lead on their first possession of the game when Bentler broke away on a 45-yard run. Bentler added the 2-point run.

But the Blackhawks came right back to pull to within 8-6 on an Anderson 3-yard run that was set up by a 49-yard tipped pass completion from Anderson to Nicholas Firchau.

But the Greyhounds and Bentler countered that score with two of their own.

First, it was a 42-yard scamper from Bentler, followed by an 18-yard jaunt that gave the Greyhounds a 22-6 lead after the first quarter.

Jaden Helget’s 31-yard scoring run on Cathedral’s second possession of the second quarter upped the Greyhounds lead to 28-6.

The Greyhounds’ defense set up the next Cathedral score when Brock Carlson recovered a Madelia fumble on the Blackhawks 48-yard line.

Five plays later, Wilfahrt bolted in from 2 yards out for a 36-6 halftime cushion.

“We have always been a team all of these years that does not rely on one back,” Lux said about the different backs scoring for the Greyhounds. “It is not fair to him and it is not fair to the team. So we try and spread the ball around and that has been one of our assets.”

A Jake Finstad interception of an Anderson pass set up Wilfhart’s second score of the night on a 3-yard run early in the third quarter.

Cathedral capped off the Homecoming win on an 11-yard run from Lane Ruch.

“This was just an awesome team effort,” Lux said. “It has been a great week — the whole week of Homecoming has been just a positive experience for all of the kids. To finish it with a game like we had tonight was fantastic.”