Minnesota Valley Lutheran head football coach Jim Buboltz could not have wished for a better first-game performance overall by his team in a 28-0 road win at Sibley East on Thursday night.

“It was good to get the season started that way,” Buboltz said. “Two of the ingredients we were looking for took place for us to be successful this season. We ran the ball for around 300 yards and played good defense. When those two things happen, you are going to be in a lot of games.”

Buboltz said that the Chargers established their ground game — something they want to do this season — from the opening kickoff.

“We did a nice job of power football and bringing back the veer — playing that option football that I really like,” he said. “K.P. [Kaden Peterson, MVL quarterback] did a real nice job of reading the veer — reading the option. He had 12 carries for 71 yards and a touchdown. And Connor Bode did a real nice job in his first start at tailback — he had 15 carries for 133 yards and a couple of touchdowns.

“Even freshman Chase Tweit got into the end zone on an 18-yard touchdown run. Proud of my guys in the way the embraced the physicality of the first game.”

Buboltz said that changing to a veer option is not an easy transition.

“But when you have an experienced quarterback and an experienced fullback in Ben Price, you have a good chance of being pretty successful,” he said.

And Buboltz knows that the running game does not work without solid play from the offensive line. “We have all juniors and seniors on the line and thought that they did a nice job.”

And the Chargers’ defense posted a shutout.

“I am super proud of that group,” Buboltz said. “We knew that our strength was going to be our linebackers. Getting Caleb Hunter back from injury to help call the defensive signals and communicate with me is great. And I really thought that Luke Merseth played an exceptional game — he had five batted passes, nine tackles and a sack. He was all over the field disrupting things — he also had three tackles for losses. He established things from the end that allowed our linebackers — Caleb, Kyan Kube, Ethan Johnson, Connor Bode — to really run free and get themselves to the ball.”

Buboltz said that Merseth could be a force on defense this year.

“He is good-sized kid who is very intelligent and smart at the D-end spot. I was really impressed with him.”

EAGLES WIN WITH TURNOVERS

The New Ulm Eagles may have set a school record defensively when they forced six Belle Plaine turnovers Friday in a 33-14 win.

Four of those Tigers miscues came in the second quater and allowed the Eagles to put up 26 points and realistically end the game.

New Ulm head coach Derek Lieser said that forcing four turnovers in a quarter and then being able to score four touchdowns off of them does not happen too often.

“At any level,” he said about the four turnovers and then four touchdowns off of them. “It was our defense being opportunistic. We knew coming in that we were going to lean on our defense — we had upwards of six, seven or eight guys that played last year as either starters or key contributors. They played well and gave our offense some critical field position really paid a key part in that second quarter and turned the tide of the game.”

One of they players who proved to be a thorn in the side of Belle Plaine was senior Dain Barie, who had two interceptions.

“We emphasize to kids on defense is to know your assignments and flying to the football — we took advantage of some of their mistakes.”

Offensively, Lieser was pleased with the play of senior quarterback Preston Holberg, who was making his first varsity start.

“He made some nice throws and gave our receivers chances to make plays,” Lieser said. “He was physical in the run game and he made all of the throws he needed to. He gave our offense the chance to put points on the board.

“That is what we asked him to do and that is why we put him in that position. I was proud of his leadership and his calmness — he did a nice job in leading our offense.”

GREYHOUNDS TAKE TOUGH LOSS AT EDGERTON

New Ulm Cathedral football head coach Denny Lux knew that his team would have a tough first-game road matchup at Edgerton this past Thursday night in a 28-14 loss to the Flying Dutchmen.

“Both teams were evenly matched up,” he said. “Both teams had over 300 yards of offense, the amount of plays both teams ran was about the same. But the biggest difference in the game were our nine penalties.

“Some of those penalties were because Edgerton is so quick on defense that we were jumping offside a few times trying to get a jump on those guys — those penalties on our part were probably the difference.”

Despite the loss, Lux felt that his team took a big step forward from their scrimmage.

“I thought that our guys played well,” he said. “We do have some new offensive sets this year that we feel we can keep and go forward with in the future — we have a little bit of a learning curve yet.”

Lux said that offensively, his team controlled the ball very well.

“We did not convert a couple of times on fourth-and-short situations, but we only punted once,” he said.

Lux said that quarterback Jake Finstad is really tough in the pocket.

“He is so quick,” Lux said. “But overall our pass blocking was pretty good — they have strong defensive ends and brought some linebackers at times — but it was a great effort that we can take forward now.”

Cathedral’s Josh Bentler was the workhorse for the Greyhounds with 21 carries for 145 yards and two scores.

“He is a tough runner and that is probably the first time in many years that we have had one back carry the ball that many times in the first game,” Lux said. “He is a guy who keeps his legs turning — he is a tough guy to bring down — and he did a good job.”

Lux said that the run blocking was pretty good. “Our guards were really tested with their defensive line and with what they do up front,” he said.

Defensively, Lux sang the praises of linebacker Joe Gillis, who led the Greyhounds with 18 tackles.

“He was all over the field,” Lux said. “He reads things so well and he tackles so well. I told him after the game that it was a joy watching the way he wraps up a player and then drives him back.

“Defensively we were in control the first and third quarters. We needed to keep the ball a little bit longer in some of our drives.”

Lux said that the Greyhounds were down by two scores with four minutes to go in the game.

“We drove the length of the field — we did not score– but the fans watching probably felt that this game is going to go to the end. We had a chance in the fourth quarter — that is good program down there.”

One thing that Lux said that needs to be worked on is route running.

“All of our receivers have to run really good routes,” he said. “We need to stress that — getting themelves open — that is probably the thing on offense.

“Defensively at times our safeties could come up and help more on the run a little quicker. But again we have a couple of sophomores playing so this was a good test for them.”