While the New Ulm Eagles and quarterback Owen Castleman’s 42-point first half Friday night was impressive in their 49-6 win over Worthington, what was equally impressive was the play of the New Ulm defense.

New Ulm did not allow the Trojans a first down in the game until midway through the third quarter when the Eagles held a commanding 49-0 lead after a Tyshun Brown 13-yard TD run.

In the first two quarters, New Ulm allowed Worthington just 19 yards of offense.

“We executed our game plan — the kids did what they were supposed to do,” New Um head coach Derek Lieser said.

Castleman’s first-half performance of two touchdown runs and three touchdown passes sparked the Eagles’ offense.

“We really tried to emphasize in our coaches meeting this past week of how we can get our offense going,”Lieser said. “And one area was to get Owen more comfortable. We ran a play-action pass play and he threw one of our checkdowns — we saw we could get one of our receivers open down the sideline and he had Jamison [Portner] on a really nice play that we have been looking for — that deep shot to stretch the field vertically because we have not had that a lot this year. That was a nice step in his growth.”

The pass resulted in a 64-yard touchdown pass.

Lieser said that he emphasized to the players that defensively they needed to change the line of scrimmage.

“We need to put that (line of scrimmage) in their backfield and put them in third and long situations and force them to throw the ball,” Lieser said. “Our defensive backs were able to get after it (first-half interceptions from Zach Hubbard and Jeff Kral). We have really emphasized takeways lately — punch the ball out when you are the second and third guy to the ball.”

And blocking punts as a Kaiden Berg-Ruehling blocked punt led to an Eagles touchdown.

“We have been waiting to win the turnover battle,” Lieser said.

New Ulm hopes to hit the .500 mark this Friday at Tri-City United.

GREYHOUNDS GET BIG ROAD WIN

New Ulm Cathedral head football coach Denny Lux said that Friday’s 30-20 win at Nicollet was an overall good win for the players and the coaching staff.

“I give a lot of credit to [defensive coach] Jesse Nosbush and the defense,” Lux said. “Their quarterback [Henry Oscarson] was in and out of the pocket — he bought a lot of time — and our defensive backs had to cover those receivers for a while and they did a really good job. Nicollet can score, but we did a good job.”

The 20 points scored by the Raiders against the Greyhounds defense was Nicollet’s lowest this season.

And offensively, Alex Portner is starting to hit his stride after a 150-yard rushing game Friday and two touchdowns.

“We ran some Power-I (Friday), so that gave us a look with three running backs, but at the end of the game it came down to Alex and Eli [Anderson],” Lux said. “They both did a good job of moving the football for us. We are trying to establish more of an identity as an on-the-ground team.”

And the Cathedral offensive line was moving people.

“Camden Berg, Henry Forst, Logan Klawitter and Ike Kirschstein at center — they are working really well,” Lux said. “And you have to give credit to our tight ends Evan Blekestad and Andrew Stern. Nicollet was giving us some five-man and six-man fronts — they were doing whatever they could to stop our running game. Those guys did a really nice job for us.”

And this was game two of Adrian Henry’s return to the backfield after a knee injury last season.

“He is a quiet leader,” Lux said. “He runs had and he gives opposing defenses a lot of pressure up the middle. Portner is an outside guy so those two compliment each other quite a bit.”

The Greyhounds host Mountain Lake Area next Saturday at 2 p.m. at Johnson Field.

POSITIVES IN LOSS

FOR MVL

Minnesota Valley Lutheran head football coach Jim Buboltz felt that there were some positives in their 49-6 loss to powerhouse Jackson County Central on Friday.

“We came out of the gates and got a first down on our first series and our drive before half showed that we had not given up even though the quarter did not go well,” Buboltz said. “We were down 14-0 after the first quarter. They [Jackson County] are just so explosive — they can score at any point and any time. I am happy with that — we did not give up and were able to score in the second half.

“We are beat up and bruised, but we feel that we played them better than we did last year.”

Buboltz said in the loss he has a team that does not give up and will keep playing.

“They are putting it all out there and you can be proud of that — we took some steps forward,” he said. “We made them earn it.”

Buboltz felt that Kyan Kube did a nice job on both sides of the ball.

“Caleb [Hunter] draws a lot of attention on the defensive side of the ball and Kyan has been able to help out — and I felt that Blake Sexton played well also on the defensive side. He broke up some passes on the defensive side also — he made some nice plays. We took a step forward Friday against an incredible team.”

Good news is that the Chargers get Luke Merseth back for their Homecoming game Friday with Luverne.