Greyhounds' Reinarts should be OK

NEW ULM -- New Ulm Cathedral's Brandon Reinarts, who was injured in the Greyhounds' 41-6 loss to Springfield Friday night, will be OK according to Cathedral head football coach Denny Lux.

"He was x-rayed at the emergency room at New Ulm Medical Center (Friday night) and everything showed negative," said Lux. "Right now, he is just real stiff and sore; it could be that he has some stretched muscles in his neck. But as far as anything real threatening, that has been ruled out."

Reinarts was injured in the third quarter when he went after a fumble. "His status for next week is day-to-day; he will wear a neck collar in the future. He (Reinarts) is a kid that goes all-out whether it is football, basketball or baseball; he gives 100 percent."

Last year, Reinarts was hampered by a hip injury that slowed him. "Those have been some unfortunate things, but as a coach you know that he will give it his all."

Also injured was fullback Matt Furth, who was hit on a crack-back block. "That kept him out of the game, but we expect him back on Friday."

TIGERS RUN VEER WELL: Lux said that after his team took a 6-0 lead, it was the play of the Tiger offense that really spelled the difference.

"They did a good job running their veer offense. We kept telling our defensive ends (at halftime, trailing 14-6) that they had to stay home; that that they could not come down the line so far. Their quarterback would do a good job of faking to the fullback and then he would either keep the ball or pitch it."

Lux added that the offensive line of the Tigers started wearing down the Hounds defensive line throughout the game, also.

"Even with the negative things that happened (injury to both Reinarts and Furth, who injured his shoulder) our kids really never quit. We have to keep playing with the intensity that we had last night the rest of the season."

Lux said that when both Reinarts and Furth left with injuries the team loses some speed. They also lose two starting running backs and two starting outside linebackers. "We were hurt defensively on the outside and we could not run our normal offense and we were forced to do some things that limited us (offensively)."

One of the bright spots of the game for Cathedral was the play of nose-guard Joey Penkert. "He (Penkert) played hard all night. Our defensive ends played physical. Our defense got wore down the second half. And Hans Biebl caught some balls for us."

Lux said that this one game "will not make or break our season. We just need to get healthy and get ready for our next game (with MVL Friday night). This year's group of players did not put all their eggs in one basket with the game against Springfield.

"This group knows that there are a lot of games left. We didn't back ourselves against the wall by putting pressure on this one game."

CHARGERS ROLL IN OPENER: Friday, the Hounds will have to contend with an improved MVL squad that hammered Buffalo Lake-Hector 40-0.

"We definitely showed up," said first-year head coach Jim Buboltz. "It had been a question mark whether our kids could put it all together on the field; we had been getting beat up for a couple of years. That takes its toll emotionally and mentally, so it was nice to see us come out there and do that."

Buboltz said that his offensive linemen "did a great job of opening holes all night; we had some big plays but we also had come good, long drives, which is good to see."

While players like Dan Unke (quarterback), Joel Russow (fullback) and Jesse Pfeifer (wide receiver) had big games, it was the play of scatback Danny Liggett that really impressed Buboltz. "He (Liggett) had a huge game; he only touched the ball three times but had 116 yards and three touchdowns. He is very fast and just ran away from people when he turned the corner and got into the secondary. He was gone.

"Dan (Unke) controls our team on offense," commented Buboltz about his new quarterback this year. "He is a leader and the kids look up to him and he does a fine job. He ran the option well last night and also made some 'hot' calls that led to some big plays."

Buboltz said that there were "a lot of question marks going into this game. We have taken it on the chin for a couple of years, but that group of kids are seniors right now. This was a pleasant surprise but yet it was what I was expecting when I saw this team in practice."

Buboltz said that the players are "happy right now, but we know that we have a tough game against Cathedral."

PENALTIES HURT EAGLES: New Ulm High School head football coach Rick VanRoekel said that penalties hurt his squad in their 22-14 loss to Luverne. New Ulm led 14-0 going into the final quarter.

"We had so many big penalties (in the fourth quarter) and played from our own territory and were limited by what we could run," he said. "We would have a first down, but then have it called back and then we would be in a 2nd-and-15 situation. We had a punt blocked after they scored and they scored shortly after that. Again, we had a short punt; they scored 22 points in 5 1/2 minutes. We had a ton of penalties."

Van Roekel said that his team "played well the first half. We moved the ball well despite some penalties and made some big plays. Micah (Neidecker) ran the ball well and defensively, I don't know if they had a first down the first half. We shut them down completely."

But the second half, VanRoekel said that the Eagles, who host Detroit Lakes Saturday at 2 p.m., "had some breakdowns in coverages and they started going outside more. Then we started getting penalties. I don't know if we got tired or what."

NEIDECKER RUNS WELL: Neidecker, who rushed for 997 yards last year, totaled 110 yards on 21 carries. "He ran well but he had a big run called back by a penalty. He also had an interception."

VanRoekel commented that the Eagles' defense had trouble with their tackling. "I don't know if we got tired or what. Kory (Andersen) played well."

But he said that the turnovers (one blocked punt, a lost fumble on a punt and three interceptions) plus the penalties were to much to overcome. "It was a frustrating game for everybody. because we played so well the first three quarters.

'These mistakes are all correctable," he said.

Column by Jim Bastian, Journal sports writer