New Ulm Cathedral may have set several school records Friday night in their 64-0 win over Westbrook-Walnut Grove.

First may be the 30 points that they scored in the opening quarter.

Second could be the 52 points put on the board by halftime and finally the 64 points in a game.

They also scored on nine straight possessions to start the game.

The Greyhounds ran 33 offensive plays in the game compared to 52 for WWG.

It was also a game where senior running back Josh Bentler carried the ball nine times for 184 yards and three touchdowns for an average of 20 yards a carry — more than likely a Cathedral record for average yardage per carry for a game and possibly close to a state record for average yardage per carry in a game.

After the win, Cathedral head football coach Denny Lux gave the Westbrook-Walnut Grove team and coaches.

“I give a lot of credit to Westbrook-Walnut Grove team because we all know that they are getting their football program going again,” he said. “They did not have a varsity football program last year — they have one senior on the team — their quarterback [Kevin Curry] is a good thrower.”

It was also a game where the luxury of having a big halftime lead got the fans to see some of the younger players in action.

“We have been watching our junior high and B-squad and what they are doing — our program is moving forward and into this different level of football,” Lux said. “It is the best night of all when you can get all when you can get all of your guys on the field. That is a tribute to the varsity players, because on a night like this everyone wants to play all night long, but they know that they have to share the field.”

NOT A GOOD NIGHT FOR THE EAGLES

Sometimes you can tell that it may not be your night just by the way things start.

That could be the case of the New Ulm Eagles’ road football game Friday night at Worthington that turned into a tough 10-3 loss.

“It was a case of Murphy’s Law,” New Ulm High School head football coach Derek Lieser said. “We had a bus breakdown on the way to Worthington, so we got there 90 minutes later than we normally do, but thankfully they did push the game time back a little bit for us. But that got us all out of our normal routine — about everything that could go wrong for us did from there from our execution standpoint to [three] turnovers in the game to a freshman quarterback [Owen Castleman] making his first varsity start — it was a tough night all around. Disappointed in the outcome but not disappointed with our players’ effort and willingness to battle.”

Lieser said that Castleman did a nice job in his first start.

“We put him in some tough positions — we fumbled on our second drive of the game on our first play and then on our third drive we fumbled on their 2-yard line going in,” Lieser said. “Owen made some nice throws in the game — he hung onto the ball and took some hits — and he made some throws where he gave our receivers a chance. Overall, for a ninth grader making his first start, I thought that he did a real nice job.

“And again, we did not have a normal pre-game routine and having an accelerated warmup. And a lot of our older players showed confidence in him.”

Lieser said that the Eagles’ ground game had good and bad times.

“But it was inconsistent at times,” Lieser said. “We had a lot of situations where we were second-and-long and the play sheet gets smaller. Ultimately we did not make enough plays and had three turnovers.”

He said that defensively his team played well.

“But we were on the field more than we would have liked to be — they were 97% run,” he said. “Proud of our effort defensively, but we were inconsistent on offense.”

Lieser said that his team had a chance to tie or win the game late.

“We moved down to their 5-yard line with under a minute to go in the game,” he said. “On the last play of the game we had Dain Barie in the back of the end zone and he almost got a toe in, but he was called out of the end zone. It was a tough go all the way around.”

Lieser said that Castleman is a different kind of quarterback compared to Preston Holberg, who was lost for the season last week with an injury. “Owen does not have that same elusiveness yet which is to be expected from a ninth grader — they blitzed their linebackers a lot,” he said. “But the first half having three turnovers in four drives are back-breakers — those are the things that caused us not finishing on the right side of the scoreboard.”

CHARGERS FALL TO LUVERNE

Minnesota Valley Lutheran head football coach Jim Buboltz said that the 35-0 score in a road loss to Luverne Friday is not indicative of how his team played.

“We were down 14-0 at halftime — we had seven first downs in the first half,” Buboltz said. “And KP [Kaden Peterson, MVL quarterback] was 12 for 16 in that first half — we were able to move the ball. We gave up one big pass play which gave Luverne that 14-0 lead.

“But the score stayed at 14-0 until the fourth quarter where we ran out of gas with their size at the end of the game. We showed a lot of heart but the outcome was not what we wanted.”

The Chargers had only one turnover in the game. “We would move the ball, but then their defense would toughen up and prevent us from getting into the end zone,” Buboltz said.

Buboltz said that the Chargers’ running game had trouble moving the ball.

“Right now that has been a little bit of a struggle and a head-scratcher, but we are going to keep working on it,” he said. “We are trying to find that balance between run and pass but right now are struggling to find a consistent run game — we are going to keep working at it. We have not given up on it.”

Buboltz said that his team came out of that game healthy.

“But again we have to finish our drives,” he said. “We went into the season not necessarily feeling that we wanted to throw the ball, but we are finding more success with throwing right now than running.

“But we want to see if we can find that balance and sometimes that comes down to a confidence thing — getting yourself in the right position not only to block a guy but also to making sure I know who the right guy is.”