Area teams have tough challenges this week

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Week three of the football season sees one team playing at home with three others hopping in the bus for road games.

New Ulm High School travels to Olivia to face BOLD in a non-conference battle while Minnesota Valley Lutheran hits the pavement for a long road game at New Richland to face New Richland-Hartland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva in a Gopher Valley meeting. New Ulm Cathedral will get a taste of home cooking when they entertain Red Rock Central. All games are Friday and have 7 p.m. kickoffs.

On Saturday, Martin Luther College travels to Watertown, Wisconsin for a match-up against Maranatha in a 1 p.m. kickoff.

NEW ULM HIGH SCHOOL (0-2) AT BOLD (2-0), 7 P.M. OLIVIA

The New Ulm Eagles will face their toughest opponent this season when they trek to Olivia to meet BOLD.

"They are the usual BOLD team. They are pretty big up front," Eagle coach Rick VanRoekel said. "They have big lineman both on offense and defense. They do not do anything fancy. They just come at you like they have the other years."

On defense, the Warriors use a 5-3 defense and may stunt once in a while.

"They have some good players up front that take on a lot of the interference for the linebackers," Van Roekel said. "They also have decent speed and they will be getting back a running back that was out for their first two games. So we will see some personnel that they did not have in their first two games. It is tough to plan for those players."

VanRoekel is worried about quarterback Jon Lankenau (who beat MVL 14-13 on a last second touchdown run on September 3rd).

"He rolls out with the quarterback keeper and is also a good defensive back. He will be a big part of our game plan this week."

VanRoekel feels that the Eagles, while concentrating on what BOLD can do, have to correct their mistakes from their first two games.

"Correcting those mistakes is more of a mental thing that anything else," he said. "We have improved in thngs each game. On offense, we have to get better. It is coming. We have a ways to go. It seems like after watching the tapes we have four players doing it right but we have one player with the breakdown. That is when it costs us. Guys need to pick up their assignments."

After an 0-2 start, VanRoekel feels that a win is very important now.

"When you are 0-2, you are kind of grasping for some success. We are in our third straight road game so we have to pull up our bootstraps and get mentally ready. We need to execute better."

MINNESOTA VALLEY LUTHERAN (1-1) AT NRHEG (2-0) AT NEW RICHLAND 7 P.M.

The MVL Chargers will meet a veteran Panther team in a Gopher/Valley match-up.

"They have a lot of confidence coming in," MVL coach Jim Buboltz said. "They have a lot of seniors on the roster and players who have played since they were sophomores. They have always played us tough for two years in a row and I would not expect anything less on Friday."

The Panthers have a quarterback, Bjorn Peterson, who
"can run the ball well, but he also has an excellent arm. He likes to throw on the run, especially when he is running to his left," Buboltz said.

He said that NRHEG "will spread us out defensively. They like to run the ball but they are not afraid to throw the ball. They have great speed on the outside. They are dangerous."

But Buboltz feels that his team has a pretty quick defense.

"We will match up well against that. We always have. I would like to see if they are going to block our defensive ends (Jared Hoscheit and Ryan Timm) the way that they should. We also will have (linebacker) Tyler Morgan back after missing a game with a stinger. He is our captain and our leader on the field. The guys look to him. I think that our defense is quick. Jason Costello already has two interceptions this year. Their offense fits our defensive scheme pretty well."

NRHEG runs the same defense that MVL runs "so it will be like playing a mirror against our defense. They willl blitz because they will want to put pressure on quarterback Jake Unke because he is young."

RED ROCK CENTRAL (0-2) AT NEW ULM CATHEDRAL (2-0) 7 P.M. JOHNSON FIELD

Red Rock Central comes to the City of Charm and Tradition with the idea of running the ball at the Greyhounds.

"They will want to run the ball at us , be physical and try to establish the line of scrimmage," Greyhound coach Denny Lux said. "The previous two teams that we met have wanted to throw the ball against us. We feel that they will run."

Both teams match up well as far as size but Lux believes that the Greyhounds have a few more seniors on the team than they do.

"But we know that Red Rock has a very good tradition in football and will play us hard," Lux said.

Red Rock runs a 5-3 and a 5-2 defense "with some real solid linebackers as are their two running backs," Lux said. "They also get some pretty good play out of their defensive ends, so I am sure that they will want to stop our run and then work on our passing game."

Against Sleepy Eye St. Mary's, Lux said that that RRC "looked like they used their entire playbook. They ran shotgun, they ran trips. They ran motion. They passed the ball as much as they ran the ball. Against Cedar Mountain, they mostly ran the ball with Chase Bierman carrying the ball 33 times. They will do whatever it takes to move the football. We cannot key on the running game alone."

Lux feels that his team is quick "and we are confident in our team speed."

The key to the game, according to Lux, will be playing at home "and getting that home crowd behind us. We need to play with a lot of emotion. We need to be ready to plau froim the start. Red Rock Central is a good ballclub."

MARTIN LUTHER COLLEGE (0-2) AT MARANATHA (2-0) 1 P.M.

This will be a big rivalry game for the Knights as many of the players on MLC are from the Wisconsin area.

"Northwestern College (which merged with MLC in New Ulm) was in Watertown so this is a big game," MLC coach Chuck Hussman said. "They like to run the ball out of the I-formation and run the power. They also use a couple of reverses and they will throw the ball. So we need to shore up our pass defense."

Maranatha will also run out of the split backfield set and will go to the shotgun at times."

Hussman feels that the Knights can move the ball on the ground. "We are blocking better but we will mix in some passing plays to keep their defense honest."

He added that the MLC defense has improved a lot in two games. "We held Waldorf to a touchdown and two field goals. We are comparable in size to them but we are quicker."

"We need to put points on the board and get our defense off the field if it is warm. We need to score first. That is real important."