Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral’s Joe Gillis (40) tackles Renville County West’s Austin Rice (9) during a Nine-Man South District, West Subdistrict football game at Johnson Field in New Ulm on Friday night.

NEW ULM — New Ulm Cathedral scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to break a scoreless tie as the Greyhounds blanked Renville County West 16-0 Friday night at Johnson Field in a Nine-Man South District, West Subdistrict game.

Quarterback Jevan Wilfahrt and running back Rylan Koopmann found the end zone in the last quarter. Koopmann added two 2-point conversions.

Alex Brennan led the Cathedral ground game with 56 yards on 14 carries. Koopmann added 49 yards on 12 carries.

“This was a nice win tonight,” Cathedral head coach Denny Lux said. “I have been telling our players all week that records do not mean anything. Renville County West (1-6) knows how to play football. They played good defense — they ran a good offense and they had a good scheme.

“But for us, it was the tail of two halves. I thought that we outplayed them in the second half on offense and defense.”

The first 24 minutes saw both run 27 offensive plays but being unable to reach the end zone.

The Jaguars had their best drive of the game on their opening series when they marched from their own 39-yard line to the Greyhounds 15-yard line where their drive stalled there on a Cathedral defensive stand on fourth down.

Cathedral’s defense forced four Jaguar turnovers, with three coming in the first half with fumble recoveries from Joe Gillis, Colin Anderson and Jake Finstad.

“Our defense played solid all game, but the second half we outplayed them,” Lux said. “And that was the key. Part of that was the weather but part of is just being opportunistic and being at the right place. We got guys pursuing the ball and when it comes out you have guys around it.”

The third quarter saw both team’s defenses control play as both the Greyhounds and Jaguars had three three-and-outs offensively.

The Greyhounds, who play at Hills-Beaver Creek next Wednesday, put together the first scoring drive of the game on their opening series of the fourth quarter when Wilfahrt engineered a nine play, 52-yard scoring march that ended when Wilfahrt squirmed in from one yard out at the 6:42 mark. Koopmann’s first 2-point run made it 8-0.

Brock Carlson’s recovery off an Austin Rice fumble on Renville County West’s second play of their next drive set up Cathedral’s second score of the fourth quarter that was aided by converting a fourth-and-one from the Jaguars 25-yard-line.

Rylan Koopmann finished the drive with a 9-yard run before ending his night with another 2-point conversion for a 16-0 lead with 3:31 left in the game.

“This was a big game for us in the section,” sald Lux as his team improved to 6-1 on the year. “We are making sure that we are keeping our level of play high.”

Defensively the Greyhounds were led by Joe Gillis’ 13 tackles, followed by 10 stops from Logan Mielke and seven tackles from Ben Blomberg.