The sophomore quarterback rushed for touchdowns of 50 and 3 yards and added to his resume scoring passes of 63,15 and 7 yards.

That led to a 42-0 lead at halftime as the Eagles broke a three-game losing skid with a 49-6 win over the Trojans at New Ulm High School field in a Southeast-Central District, Red Subdistrict football game.

Castleman’s 64-yard scoring strike went to Jamison Portner with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Zach Hubbard. His 7-yard scoring pass went to Dirk Haynes.

Hubbard had an 8-yard touchdown run in the first quarter with Tyshun Brown scoring on a 13-yard run in the third quarter.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey The New Ulm cheerleader squad leads a cheer during a prep football game against Worthington Friday at New Ulm High School.

After three straight losses, coming out fast was something that Castleman and the Eagles wanted to do.

“It was huge,” said Castleman about the Eagles fast start. “We came out strong and set the tone right away and punched them in the mouth.”

The Eagles, who play next Friday at Tri-City United, took the opening kickoff and marched 65 yards in 11 plays, capped off by an 8-yard run by Hubbard.

“We deferred to the second half because we wanted the ball to start the game and set the tone,” New Ulm coach Derek Lieser said. “And we did with our offense scoring on all six possessions of the first half.”

New Ulm’s defense — as they did all first half — stopped the Trojans on three downs and forced them to punt, the Eagles took over at their own 34-yard line. A 16-yard run by Parker Ranweiler had the ball at the 50-yard line where Castleman broke lose for a touchdown.

“It was a boot pass and I saw everyone was covered, so I just a took off and ran,” Castleman said about his run down the sidelines “And Jamison Portner made a great block to free me up.”

New Ulm’s third possession was sparked by a 24-yard Hubbard run and ended when Castleman powered in from 3 yards out for a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Castleman’s dismantling of Worthington’s defense continued on their next possession when he repaid Portner for an earlier block that sprung him for a touchdown when he hit the speedster for a 64-yard scoring strike.

“Their cornerback bit down — they saw run — and (Portner) was wide open,” Castleman said.

After a Trojans turnovers, Castleman needed just three plays to hit Hubbard with a 15-yard touchdown pass and a 35-0 lead with 3:56 left in the first half.

Jeff Kral’s interception of an Isaiah Schroeder pass with just over two minutes left in the first half set the stage for New Ulm’s sixth touchdown of the first half when Castleman finished his days work on a 7-yard touchdown pass to Dirk Haynes and a 42-0 lead at halftime.

“We were preaching all week to get back in the win column,” Castleman said. “Two of those losses we were right there — we could have won those games if we had made a couple of more plays than we did.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm’s Owen Castleman breaks into open space during a prep football game against Worthington Friday at New Ulm High School.