St. Peter quarterback Alex Korir hooked up with wide receiver Ashton Guida for a 55-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter.

Ian Wills caught a second quarter hook-and-ladder score that covered 36 yards on a pass from Moelter before Moelter scored on touchdown runs of 19 and 40 yards in the fourth quarter.

“This was a good ball game for most of the four quarters,” New Ulm head coach Derek Lieser said. “Hats off to St. Peter — they are having a nice season (6-1) but unfortunately we made some characteristic mistakes that we have been doing all season and we are still making mental mistakes in not running the right routes. And we had a couple of botched snaps. Mistakes that we have made all year and we are not learning from our mistakes.”

The Eagles (2-7) fell behind just three plays into the game when on a third-and-7 from the Saints’ 45-yard line, Korir found Guida roaming free behind the Eagles’ secondary for a 55-yard scoring strike on a 1:40 drive.

Photo by Brady Dennis Parker Ranweiler and Dirk Haynes headbutt after Ranweiler sacks the quarterback during a prep football game against St. Peter on Friday at New Ulm High School.

“We preached it in practice that we cannot give up the big play,” Lieser said. “We have them on a third-and-long situation but then give up a big pass play. We preach it and preach it but we cannot go out and do it for the kids — they have to find a way to do it for themselves. We have to find a way to quit making the mistakes that we are making.”

It did look like the Eagles were going to respond to the Saints score with one of their own as they pieced together a drive that started on their own 33-yard line and went to the St. Peter 12-yard line where the 11-play drive stalled when Carter Dale intercepted an Owen Castleman pass.

The 11-play drive that went 55 yards would be the best drive of the game for the Eagles.

Lieser said that defensively St. Peter moved their fronts around after New Ulm’s first drive of the game.

“And they moved some personnel around — our first drive we are marching 11 plays and we needed to find a way to punch it in,” Lieser said.

The Saints made it 12-0 midway through the second quarter when they ended a 77-yard drive with some trickery.

On third-and-3 from the Eagles 26-yard line, the Saints pulled out the hook-and-ladder play for a touchdown.

Korit hit Moelter with a pass down the sidelines and Moelter then lateraled to Wills who raced untouched 26yards for the touchdown and a 12-0 halftime lead.

After a scoreless third quarter, St. Peter used its ground game to salt away the game in the fourth quarter.

A Moelter 19-yard run to start the final quarter upped the lead to 18-0.

A Carter Dale interception off a Castleman pass set the stage for a Moelter 40-yard touchdown run and a 24-0 lead.

“We are continuing to make fixable mistakes that we are still finding ways to make,” Lieser said. “We have to find ways to clean them up.”