With only Wednesday MEA games left on the regular schedule, it looks like all three New Ulm football teams may have secured first round home playoff games or byes.

New Ulm Cathedral is the top-ranked team in Section 2 Nine-Man and will receive a first round bye.

Minnesota Valley Lutheran looks to be penciled in as the number four seed in Section 3AA for a home playoff contest.

The New Ulm High School Eagles, by virtue of wins over St. Peter and Jordan, looks like they will end as the three-seed in Section 2AAAA but could conceivably move up to the two seed with a win at Marshall Wednesday.

What happens there will determine if New Ulm has a first-ever home playoff contest or receives a first-round bye.

The Eagles enter their game at Marshall with a 5-2 mark, the first time that there has been a five win conference mark.

After some checking the last time that a New Ulm High School football team won five or more conference games in a season was back in 1994 and 1995 when the Eagles had consecutive 6-2 conference marks.

New Ulm’s best overall football season was in 2003 when they went 4-1 in the South Central Conference but ended with a 9-3 overall mark. That year in postseason play, the Eagles defeated Marshall 41-6 before going on the road to beat Mankato East 27-26 and then beat top-ranked Mankato West 21-19 to earn a spot in the state tournament where they lost in the first round to Farmington 27-13.

TWO BIG WINS FOR EAGLES

New Ulm head coach Derek Lieser said that the wins over St. Peter and Jordan in the last two games were big for the program.

“When you look at beating two very good football programs like St. Peter and Jordan in the same season, [it] does not happen very often,” he said. “We feel like the kids are continuing to buying into our recipe that they can be successful — they trust each other. It is fun to be a part of it.

“One of my pre-game messages to the kids [Friday] was that 365 days ago our program was in a different spot. What is happening now is a testament to what they are doing and accomplishing in moving our program forward. It is a good time to be an Eagle right now. We are a different program than we were last year.”

Lieser said he knew with time, the Eagles football program would improve.

“I knew that taking the head coaching job two years ago that Year 2 was going to be year to build the foundation for years to come,” he said. “We are seeing those steps being taken and foundation being laid.”

Lieser said that this is also a season where the team is learning how to win by playing solid defense that forces turnovers and an offense that takes care of the football.

“Friday with not the best weather conditions we did not turn the ball over,” he said. “They are learning all of the things that it takes to be successful and give themselves a chance.”

Lieser said that he knows that Marshall will be a tough game.

“They are a tough team, but we also tell our kids that they are also 17 and 18 year old kids just like us,” he said. “Anything can happen if you go in with the right mindset.

“That will be our big emphasis to the kids is that Marshall is very good, but there is nothing that says we can’t go in and give ourselves a shot to win.”

Lieser said that based on QTF and opponent scores, New Ulm is the three seed right now in the section.

“If we would go in and beat Marshall, we could move up to the second seed. But I think that Friday’s win would cement us as the three seed and get that first round bye — we would have one more win than St. Peter.”

And Lieser reiterated that year’s team is different.

“We are not the New Ulm football of old,” he said.

GREYHOUNDS WIN FOURTH STRAIGHT GAME

New Ulm Cathedral solidified its No. 1 seed in Section 2, Nine Man with a 16-0 shutout over Renville County West on Friday.

Cathedral used a solid defense that lowered its points allowed per game to 13.3.

The Greyhounds also used a strong and deep running game keyed by junior Alec Brennan, who rushed for 56 yards.

“[Josh] Bentler was out for a game and another junior Alec did a really nice job,” Cathedral head coach Denny Lux said. “Once he got a few more carries and got into the flow of the game, he saw some areas where he can cut back and pick up a few extra yards. He and [Rylan] Koopmann did a great job at the end.

“And ran [Jevan] Wilfahrt a little bit — we have a three- or four-headed monster in the backfield, it is hard to cover the whole field,” Lux said.

Brennan, Koopmann, Bentler and Jaden Helget are all juniors.

The 6-1 Greyhounds close out their regular season Wednesday with a road trip to meet 6-0 Hills-Beaver Creek — the top-seeded ranked QRF team in Section 3, Nine Man. The Patriots are outscoring opponents 35-13 this season.

Cathedral will receive a first-round bye and play at home on Saturday, October 28.

CHARGERS LOSE LATE ON FRIDAY

Minnesota Valley Lutheran head football coach Jim Buboltz said that two late Redwood Valley touchdowns made the score worse than what it was in a 27-6 road loss to the Cardinals.

“We were down 7-0 at halftime and we had a nice drive that stalled out at the 3-yard line in the first half and then we gave up a touchdown right away in the second half to make it 13-0,” he said. “We cut the lead to make it 13-6, got an onside kick and got deep in their territory and had a chance to tie it up. But we had some unfortunate events not go our way Friday. We did not get a lot of breaks in the game.”

Buboltz said that he felt his team really competed for the first time in four weeks at a high level.

“We started to get some of that confidence back that we can move the ball and play defense,” he said. “We had a much more consistent effort and I was happy with that.”

Buboltz said that the injury bug that has hit the Chargers very hard all year hit again Friday.

“Kyler [Flunker] got dinged up so we had to take another part of our team out,” Buboltz said. “We cannot keep losing players. We have a lot of players banged up. We had a lot of talent at the beginning of the year, but we have nine starters out right now — that is practically an entire team.”

Buboltz was happy with the Chargers’ improved ground game.

“Ben Price ran for 97 yards and Kaden (Peterson, MVL quarterback) had 50 yards,” he said. “We ran for just under 200 yards in the game. We can build off of that.”

The Chargers did get some good news with the return of Justin Ziemer back on the defensive side of the ball.

“He missed three games because of a dislocated elbow,” Buboltz said. “He had a solid game for having very little practice time.”

Buboltz said that the Chargers, who play Wednesday at 6-1 Maple River, are locked in at the fourth seed.

“And we should have a home playoff game — that is what we are hoping for.”