Week 2 sees big matchups

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Week Two of the high school football season sees all three New Ulm football teams in action at home.

Tonight, New Ulm Cathedral will "travel" to Minnesota Valley Lutheran to take on the Chargers at Johnson Park in a 7 p.m. matchup. On Saturday, Detroit Lakes will travel to New Ulm to take on the Eagles in a 2 p.m. meeting. This is the first ever meeting between the two schools in any high school sport.

NEW ULM CATHEDRAL (0-1) AT MINNESOTA VALLEY LUTHERAN (1-0), 7 P.M., JOHNSON PARK.

The two teams are coming off opposite results from their opening season games. The Hounds are still stinging from a 41-6 loss to Springfield while the Chargers are coming off a 40-0 whitewash of Buffalo Lake-Hector.

Cathedral head football coach Denny Lux knows that his team has to do a lot of things well, but especially one aspect. "We cannot give up the big play," he said. "Their game against BL-H they scored on a number of big plays; they scored on three long runs and a couple of passes. BL-H's defense broke down sometimes and allowed them to do some things. So we have to be solid defensively all over the field and make them take a few yards at a time."

Lux said that while both teams possess speed, he is concerned with MVL slotback Danny Liggett. "When he is in the backfield, we have to make sure that we contain him. But both teams match up well with team speed. Both have linebackers that can move; each team has some guys in the secondary that have speed. I don't think that (speed) will be a factor, and both teams will try and eliminate the opponent's big play."

Lux said that his offense has to be concerned about the Chargers' two inside linebackers in the 4-4 defense. "They seem to be real quick and aggressive and get to the football fast. Their cornerbacks and safeties play very close to the line of scrimmage so they are a team that is not very big but they are quick and aggressive to the ball.

"It will be a matter of us disguising out plays and get some play-action and slow down that aggressiveness."

He said that in watching the films of the Springfield game, "we saw ourselves really hitting hard, especially in the first half. We had that intensity; we feel that it a game, and maybe the score does not indicate it, that we can build off of. We did some good things in that game; the kids know that they made some mistakes. No matter what you have done the week before, when these two teams meet you know that it is a good rivalry."

He said that both Brandon Reinarts and Matt Furth, who were injured in the Springfield game, will be ready fortonight's contest.

"As of right now, they both are looking at playing although we may try and spot them a little; we may try and get them some breaks a little more.

"We can do a lot of things with our offense (against MVL). We feel that we can throw, run some misdirection and do some different things. Against Springfield, we were limited to what we could do."

The Chargers are coming off of that big win over the Mustangs but it was a very, very costly win. Dan Unke, MVL's starting quarterback, is out for 6-8 weeks with a broken bone on the side of his left foot.

That means that John Enter, who quarterbacked the Chargers last year, will be calling the signals against Cathedral -- a team that Charger head coach Jim Buboltz is very impressed with.

"We had the passing scrimmage (against Cathedral) and Denny has a very nice offense, a complex offense," said Buboltz. "I don't know if anybody that will give more looks (offensively) than he does. I think they have some fine athletes."

Buboltz sang the praises of senior quarterback Joey Schugel. "He is one of the better quarterbacks that I have seen so far. I think that Brandon Reinarts is a fine back as is Matt Furth. Their specialty people look as good as any in the conference. I have watched the tape of their game with Springfield and I don't even think about that game; that is no indication of what kind of team they are. They are talented."

He said that Schugel's ability to throw the ball is a big concern of his. "In this (Southern Minnesota C) conference, a lot of teams look to stop the run first and then the pass. They want to put them in a passing situation. But with Schugel, their passing is so potent that it sets up the run with the play action."

Buboltz feels that his linebackers (Jon Beilke and Joel Russow), "had 26 tackles between the two of them the other night. They read their keys well. With our 4-4 and our 5-3 we have installed three good D-backs. Danny Liggett and Aaron Madson are good cover guys. Jon Enter or Jake Beilke (at free safety) do a good job.

"Their passing game concerns me, but what really concerns me is just how deceptive they are. Any team that does that concerns me."

He said that the Cathedral defense "have linebackers are very good (key) readers; their front five try and occupy the front line and have the linebackers have good, clean looks. We need to block and get to the linebacker and open up the run.

"The win (over BL-H) was big for us. We have taken it on the chin, so the win was nice and the ability to execute with the new coach and the system."

And the injury to Unke? "One nice thing is that there are not many teams that can say that their back-up quarterback has 6-8 varsity starts under his belt. He did a lot of nice things last year and he makes good decisions. Do we lose a beat? We are not planning on skipping a beat for Friday night."

DETROIT LAKES (1-0) AT NEW ULM HIGH SCHOOL (0-1), SATURDAY, 2 P.M., JOHNSON PARK

The Lakers come in as the top-ranked team in Class 4A ahead of such football powers as Northfield and Hutchinson.

"They are a fairly simple basic team that does not do anything fancy and just run veer and dive, veer and dive and then they may throw the ball once in a while along with a trap play here and there," said Eagle head football coach Rick Van Roekel of the Lakers, who hammered Sartell 31-7 in their opener. "There is nothing fancy about this team."

VanRoekel said that the Lakers of the Mid-State Conference "are a little smaller than we are. Our offensive and defensive lines are pretty big. They are a little smaller but they have good line surge and we need to stay low and take on the block."

The Lakers' running game "is a concern, especially after what happened last week (against Luverne in the last quarter). They have good quick backs, but the thing that I like is that they do not do anything real fancy so if our linebackers and defensive secondary read their keys it should be easy for them."

He said that if Detroit Lakes passes "it is all play-action pass. They had a comment on Varsity Online that said that they passed more (in their win over Sartell) then they have in the past. But their offense is the run."

The Lakers run the 5-2 defense with a rover. "They do not stunt a whole lot, and maybe we can throw the ball. Their linebackers are quick. If we can sustain the blocks, we can move the ball on them."

He said that the team is 'frustrated about their loss to Luverne (had a 14-0 lead going into the fourth quarter before losing) and they know that it was a big let-down . They felt going into the fourth quarter that we had a good shot at winning the game.

"We will stress on not getting penalties and if they jump off-side in penalties, they will run."

Van Roekel also said that the play of the special teams "concerns me. We gave them to good of field position; they started on the 50 (yard line) and the 40 (yard line) in the game. Our punting game needs work on blocking and consistency in our punting from Charles (Ganske)."

Van Roekel said that Matt Schuetzle, who had knee surgery, will be back, with Andy Schwab returning in the near future. Both are linemen.