Surprise, surprise!
Greyhounds rematch Rabbits in Section 2, Nine-Player finals
Trending
COTTONWOOD - From Week 1, the general consensus among area football fans and coaches was that the Wabasso Rabbits and New Ulm Cathedral Greyhounds would be the teams to beat among Section 2, Nine-Player football teams.
After winning 2025 campaigns and returning the majority of last season's starters this year, it's not a big surprise to see the teams slated to play in this year's Section 2, Nine-Player Football Tournament championship game this Friday night at Lakeview High School.
But despite big expectations at the start of the season, neither team has taken anything for granted or phoned in any of their performances this year. Instead, the two powerhouses have taken that early vote of confidence and used it as fuel to get better every week regardless of who was lined up across from them.
For that confidence and poise, the top-seeded Rabbits and second-seeded Greyhounds have earned the right to a rematch with everything on the line. The Rabbits defeated the Greyhounds during Week 4 of the regular season in Wabasso on Sept. 26 by a score of 28-16.
Both Rabbits head coach Joe Kemp and Greyhounds head coach Denny Lux know, however, that the time between Week 4 and now Week 10 can make all the difference.
One fine example of that is the Red Rock Central Falcons, who were 0-4 to begin the year and ended up making the section semifinals in Wabasso, falling 26-15 to the Rabbits this past Saturday to finish the year 4-6.
Kemp said he expected the Falcons to show up and perform being a rival team, but he expected more discipline from his players.
"This time of the year everybody's playing for their playoff lives," Kemp said. "They're going to give you a good battle and I don't know whether it was the week off or not, but we certainly weren't very sharp. We turned the ball over and had three touchdowns called back and gave them a fourth-down touchdown. We played well, but we made plenty of mistakes and just weren't as sharp as we usually have been."
Coach Kemp said while he was obviously happy to take down the Falcons and make the section finals, he wasn't happy with how it was done and his players weren't either.
"I don't think anybody was really happy," he said. "We have to execute better on Friday because Denny's teams are really well-coached and you have to take care of the little details and those are the things we really have to sharpen up."
While the Rabbits and Greyhounds both earned byes during the first week of the playoffs, the Greyhounds were none the worse for wear in their section semifinals game as they rolled over Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 54-13 at New Ulm's Johnson Field this past Saturday.
"As our season progressed, you can see the confidence level of our guys getting better, getting stronger as far as trusting each other and what each other was doing on the field," Lux said. "When I look back at the nine games, though, that Edgerton game was really the one that I felt has gotten us ready to play Wabasso ... We were fortunate that we played as well as we did against Buffalo Lake-Hector and I thought [BLHS] did a lot of good things offensively and defensively, but that Edgerton game is kind of one that we're going to feed off of this week as we get ready for Wabasso."
The Greyhounds defeated Edgerton 32-30 at home in the final week of the regular season thanks to kicker Andrew Stern's 45-yard field goal late in the game. Lux said that Edgerton played a physical game and he expects the same from Wabasso in Friday's game, which is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
While Lux has continued to apply a run-heavy offense this year, which is made easier thanks to a strong offensive line and record-setting senior running back Alex Portner, senior quarterback Eli Anderson hasn't been afraid to throw the ball either when called upon, his favorite target being senior wideout Josh Forstner, who has 17 receptions for 357 yards and seven TDs. Anderson has completed 47 of 72 passes for 713 yards and nine TDs, while Portner leads the ground game with 153 carries for 1,407 yards and 27 touchdowns. Portner recently became the first player in the city of New Ulm to pass 3,000 career rushing yards and he is also Cathedral's all-time leader in touchdowns.
Hudson Lieser has added 31 carries for 345 yards and four scores, while Blake Aufderheide has 26 carries for 260 yards and three touchdowns and Anderson has 48 carries for 244 yards and six TDs.
Defensively, the Greyhounds have been led by Camden Berg, who has 112 total tackles, nine for a loss, two sacks, an interception, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Evan Blekestad adds 91 tackles, 10 for a loss, a sack, three interceptions and a fumble recovery. Forstner has been in on 82 tackles and added three interceptions and a fumble recovery, while Anderson has picked off four passes, two returned for touchdowns, and Ryler Collins has two interceptions.
Meanwhile, the Rabbits have run a very balanced offense under senior quarterback Drew Kemp and a handful of athletic and tough running backs like Joe Rohlik, Brooks Baune, Lane Taylor and Nolan Leopold. Drew Kemp has completed 124 of 178 passes for 1,978 yards, 29 touchdowns and two interceptions this season and he's also carried the ball 41 times for 271 yards and six scores.
Rohlik leads the ground game with 55 carries for 478 yards and four touchdowns in seven games this season, while Baune has 50 carries for 249 yards and five TDs and Taylor had 28 carries for 245 yards and four TDs.
Leopold has been Drew Kemp's top target through the air with 34 receptions for 609 yards and nine TDs, while Jack Burns had 26 catches for 478 yards and seven TDs and Baune has 28 catches for 375 yards and seven TDs.
The Wabasso defense had been led by Caden Frericks, who has 73 tackles, two sacks and two interceptions, while Tyson Lightfoot has 70 tackles and an interception. Nolan Hanson also has 61 tackles for the Rabbits defense this year, while Burns had 48 tackles and two interceptions.
Lux said Wabasso was disciplined on offense and while he and his coaching staff feel comfortable with predicting what the Rabbits will do, he thinks matchups will be extra important on Friday.
"They're real disciplined on offense and there's definitely a progression," Lux said. "You can follow along with some of the motion and some of the sets and you can see when you chart things that they lead into the next play or they lead into a play that's gonna come up three or four plays later.
"The first time we played them, they got us matched up in a tough way for us. We ended up a few times with maybe a linebacker on one of their quick guys and they took advantage of that and that's one thing we're working on is making sure we get matched up correctly."
Coach Kemp said he thinks the Greyhounds have continued to expand on their offense throughout the year and he doesn't see them going away from what's brought them to the dance.
"I know they're certainly more diversified at this point in the year," coach Kemp said. "We're going to see a heavy dose of Portner and you're going to see Anderson carry the ball some. They're gonna try to connect on some deep passes as well as some short stuff underneath, so they're just more diversified, so we have to pay particular attention to the things that we do well, to our reads, getting to the right spot. And you've got to tackle Portner, he's tough to tackle, he keeps his feet moving, he's low to the ground, so I would be surprised if they go away from there and what they do well. They're 8-1, so something's been working for them, and I can't believe they'd go away from it."
For coach Kemp, execution and taking care of the ball will be the biggest keys to victory on Friday.
"Execution when you do have the football or even on the defensive side [will be key]," coach Kemp said. "Finishing tackles and winning the first and second down, getting people behind the sticks a little bit and then not turning the football over. I think it's gonna be a lot of the little things and who's gonna execute better Friday."
Lux echoed those thoughts and said playing smart and limiting penalties will be big also when it comes to punching a state ticket.
"Both teams are well-coached, I believe both teams' offense, defense and special teams, they come on the field and they know what they're doing," Lux said. "Each kid on the field does their job, so I think both teams kind of even out that way. So, yeah, the turnovers and penalties will be huge. Field position is always big and maybe it doesn't always show up on the first or second drive, but it can show up on that third or fourth drive if that field position is kind of going back and forth.
"That's where I believe both coaches know that their players need to play smart. They need to stay away from the open field-type penalties, the blocking in the back and any kind of holding on the edges because those are the things that the refs could see and everybody sees it, so they need to call it. Those will be issues that'll be played out, I think, during the game."