The Greyhounds weren’t able to stop every big play, but they stopped enough of them and had a few of their own to leave Nicollet High School with a 30-20 win in a Nine-Man South District, West Subdistrict football game.

In addition to solid blocking from the Cathedral O-line, two big reasons the Greyhounds were able to leave with the win were the backfield combo of quarterback Eli Anderson and running back Alex Portner. Portner finished with 23 carries for 150 yards and two TDs, while Anderson had 11 carries for 64 yards and a score.

“We just wanted to run everything to the outside and we have a bunch of backs we can go back to and try to confuse them,” Portner said. “We can run it every single direction.”

To counter the pass-heavy Raiders and their quarterback Henry Oscarson, Anderson and Portner needed to also make plays and tackles on the defense, something they did as Anderson ended with nine tackles and Portner ended up with his first career interception.

“It’s just communication and then when they do run it, do our best,” Anderson said. “Then pressure. Pressure’s a big thing for every team for every team we play.”

Oscarson still completed 19 of 33 passes and picked up a handful of first downs with his legs, but the Greyhounds were able to intercept two passes and recover two fumbles also to stifle the Raiders more often than not.

Raiders head coach Cory Jans said penalties hurt his team more than anything.

“After the game, looking around and seeing a bunch of somber faces, I told the guys I was very proud of how the game went,” Jans said. “We did what we wanted to do. Were there execution and mistakes made? Yeah, and I don’t have the stats now, but I can’t imagine how many penalty yards we had on offense, which killed us. We had a couple bad snaps in there, a couple mishandled snaps, all those things add up in totality over the course.”

After both teams exchanged punts on their first drives of the game, the Raiders got to the end zone first on a 12-play drive that ended with a 6-yard keeper up the middle by Oscarson to make it 6-0. A 2-point conversion pass was intercepted to keep it a 6-0 game with 4:58 left in the opening quarter.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral quarterback Eli Anderson (10) runs the ball while Nicollet’s Colton Rengstorf (13) attempts to make the tackle during a nine-man football game Friday night at Nicollet High School.

After a short kickoff was collected by Blake Aufderheide and taken to their own 47, the Greyhounds needed nine plays to find the end zone, getting in on a 1-yard sneak by Anderson to tie it up. Anderson’s TD run was set up largely thanks to a 10-yard scamper of his own and a 15-yard run by Portner earlier in the drive. A direct snap and run by Lane Ruch gave the Greyhounds the 8-6 leads just seconds before the quarter’s end.

Nicollet fumbled it on its next drive, which was recovered by Camden Berg, but the Greyhounds were unable to add to their lead and were forced to punt. The Raiders fumbled it their next drive also after a high snap, however, and the Greyhounds didn’t waste this opportunity after Henry Forst recovered the ball at the Nicollet 20.

On the second play of the drive following that second fumble, Portner took it down the right sideline for a 16-yard TD run. Another direct snap and run by Ruch gave the Greyhounds another successful 2-point conversion and a 16-6 lead.

Oscarson completed two big passes on the Raiders’ next drive, one a 20-yard sideline catch by Jordan Goettlicher and the second a 35-yard grab down the field by Colton Rengstorf. After a penalty and three plays going nowhere, Oscarson’s long pass on fourth down was intercepted inside the 20 by Josh Forstner and taken to midfield.

Nicollet got that interception back when Carson Kettner picked off a pass thrown by Portner, taking it to the Raiders 38.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Nicollet quarterback Henry Oscarson runs the ball while New Ulm Cathedral’s Camden Berg (56) leaps to make the tackle during a nine-man football game Friday night at Nicollet High School.

The Raiders got another interception just before halftime on a jump ball that was picked off by Rengstorf, but it was too late to get anything going before the half.

After the Greyhounds worked the ball down to a first-and-goal situation to open the third quarter, a fumble into the end done was recovered by Kettner, giving the Raiders a quick chance to get within striking distance. The Raiders took the following drive 80 yards, finishing it with a 4-yard TD run up the middle by Oscarson. The Raiders’ biggest play of the drive came a few plays before the TD when Oscarson found Goettlicher open down the middle of the field for a 36-yard completion.

Portner scored his second TD of the game midway through the third quarter on a 22-yard run and a 2-point try was no good, giving the Greyhounds a 22-12 lead. On the following Nicollet drive, Portner made up for his earlier trick play interception he threw by intercepting a pass on defense.

“It was great,” Portner said of getting the interception back. “I knew they were gonna pass the ball because looking at the score, they were down two [scores], so I knew the pass was coming and I knew my teammates had me to back me up, so I had more confidence and made a play.”

Adrian Henry, finished with eight carries for 33 yards, then had the final TD of the game for Cathedral on a 6-yard TD run in the fourth. A 2-point catch by Jimmy Jensen made it 30-12.

“We’re a fast team,” Anderson said. “We’re not the biggest team, but we’re a fast team. So we have three running backs, Alex, Lane and Adrian that we can get to the outside, use all three of them. … Then I’ll run the ball sometimes, too, so we can trade and control the ground game.”

The Raiders muscled their way down the field after that score to end the game on a high note as Rengstorf ran outside and dove to the goal line for a 6-yard TD run with 33.2 seconds left to play. After a completed 2-point pass was called back with a penalty, Oscarson scrambled out and took it himself into the end zone for a succesful 2-point conversion.

Evan Blekestad had 13 tackles to lead the Cathedral defense, while Ike Kirschstein had 11 tackles and two sacks, Berg had 11 tackles and Mason Sprenger added nine tackles.

Cathedral (2-3) hosts Mountain Lake Area at 2 p.m. Oct. 4 at Johnson Field, while Nicollet (1-4) travels to Wabasso for a 7 p.m. game on Friday.