Week 5: Greyhounds host unbeaten Raiders

Chargers host undefeated JCC on Homecoming, Eagles trek to Worthington

The fifth week of the high school football season on the local front has both the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers and the Greyhounds of New Ulm Cathedral with home games on Friday and Saturday nights, respectively, while New Ulm High School has a road game Friday at Worthington.

The Chargers host Jackson County Central and the Huskies' 30-game winning streak on Friday at 7 p.m. at Johnson Field in MVL’s Homecoming game, while the Eagles hit the road to face the Trojans also at 7 p.m.

On Saturday, New Ulm Cathedral entertains an unbeaten Nicollet team at 7 p.m. at Johnson Field.

NICOLLET (4-0) AT NEW ULM CATHEDRAL (3-1), SATURDAY, 7 P.M., JOHNSON FIELD

The last time that the Nicollet Raiders won their first four games of the season came back in the 2013-14 season under then head coach Tom Murphy in a season where they went 11-1.

Saturday the Raiders come into their Nine-Player South District, West Subdistrict meeting with the Greyhounds with an offense that has averaged 32 points per game.

"The players that we have on this team do a really good job of pushing themselves," Raiders head coach Cory Jans said. "And every single week we have gotten better throughout the year and that is a big credit to the players."

Jans said that changed defensive coordinators and now has Tyler Laven in that spot.

"He has done a fantastic job," Jans said "We have played well but we still have things to clean up. Our biggest strength this season has been our ability to handle adversity -- we have done a really great job of overcoming them and our defense has made key stops when we have needed to. They have embraced the bend but do not break mindset."

Jans said that they are facing a very well-coached team under Denny Lux.

"[Alex] Portner is a dynamic back for them and I am not sorry that he is a senior," Jans said. "But they have some nice players around him too, with some sophomores that are taking a step up. They are a solid football team."

Jans said that defensively his Raiders need to maintain gap integrity.

"We do not want to play hero ball and maintain that [gap] integrity. We cannot turn the ball over [Saturday] and right now we are a confident team," he said.

Cathedral head coach Denny Lux said that Nicollet has done a great job this season of replacing some key players.

"They had to replace some two- and three-year starters and they have found their niche with their quarterback and receivers, so you have to give them a lot of credit for the way the year has started out."

Lux said that the Raiders passing game is strong but that they will also run some option.

"They have a quick screen game and they do a lot of things similar to what Wabasso does as far as spreading the field and trying to get the matchups," Lux said. "They throw the ball real well, so our defensive backs are going to have to do a good job … and our defensive line is going to have to take care of the run because I am pretty sure that [defensive coach Jesse] Nosbush is going to load himself up with some defensive backs to cover the passes."

Defensively Lux said that Nicollet is aggressive and they like to blitz.

"They really are aggressive on the edges and coming off of our game with Wabasso last week, we ran Alex Portner a lot and we need to get our other backs involved," Lux said. "We cannot have all eyes on Portner.

"And defensively we cannot let their quarterback sit in the pocket so there is a lot of pressure on our defensive ends and they have speed so we need to know which players run that stop-and-go and get by you. The speed of their receivers is our biggest concern."

JACKSON COUNTY CENTRAL (4-0) AT MINNESOTA VALLEY LUTHERAN (3-1), FRIDAY, 7 P.M., JOHNSON FIELD

The last time that Jackson County Central lost a football game came back in the 2023 season when they lost to Barnesville 38-23 in a state Class AA semifinals game.

Since then it has been nothing but wins and domination.

The Huskies enter this Mid-South District, Brown Subdistrict game riding that 30-game winning streak and have dominated opponents this season by an average score of 42-8.

"They are powerful -- they have good speed and seem to be depending now more on the power run game and they have good speed at the wide receiver," Chargers head coach Jim Buboltz said. "They have a lof of their running backs back from last season and they are all pretty tough. Their fullback is the one that they run their offense around and they also use a lot of motion and jet sweeps and wide bubble passes to try and get their speed out in the open."

"They will mainly run the ball, but throw in a pass every now and then to try and catch you off guard. Their tight ends run well."

While the Huskies offense is strong, Buboltz said that Jackson County Central's defense is their calling card.

"So we are going to have to be able to control the ball and we need to keep the clock moving and our best defense is to keep their offense off of the field," he said. "And they can also score on their special teams also so we need to get first downs and move the ball offensively if we want to stay in the game."

NEW ULM HIGH SCHOOL (3-1) AT WORTHINGTON (2-2), 7 P.M., WORTHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL

Both teams are coming off of wins last week, with Worthington defeating Albert Lea 19-13 and New Ulm getting by Belle Plaine 14-12 in this Southeast Central District, Red Subdistrict meeting.

"They are coming in at .500 after a win at Albert Lea and they run a little bit of an unorthodox offense -- a little bit of spread offense and double tight wishbone," New Ulm High School head coach Derek Lieser said. "Their quarterback is big and athletic and they have some basketball-type players who are 6-foot-4 and can jump."

On offense, Lieser said that the Eagles need to finish their drives that they failed to do last week,

"We left a lot of points on the board -- we did not punch the ball in the end zone last game," he said.

New Ulm had 330 yards of total offense last week.

And the defense needs to keep playing well.

"We cannot give up a big play, which we did pretty well last week," Lieser said. "They do not want to throw the ball a ton unless they are forced to, so we want to get them to throw the ball and take advantage of some situational football there. Our defense has been playing well."