Eagles put it together

NEW ULM -- There have not been many times when the New Ulm High School football team has scored 42 points in one game in their gridiron history.

There are even fewer times when they have scored those 42 points in one half of football.

But Friday night in the Eagles' South Central Conference football opener at St. James, New Ulm's offense was hitting on all cylinders as they scored on the ground and in the air seemingly at will in their 55-19 win.

Everyone knew about Micah Neidecker the Eagles' running back who totaled 997 yards last year and teams will key on him.

However, New Ulm gave opposing teams and coaches something other to wonder about.

Quarterback Matt Schmidt, not normally considered a running threat, had four big runs in the Eagles' first four scoring drives, scoring two touchdowns on runs of nine and a 63 yards run later in the second quarter that moved the Eagles up by a 42-6 mark at halftime.

"Matt has worked hard (in the offseason) and this year he came down, and felt that when we run the option and he keeps it that he is going to be a threat and a force," commented Eagle head coach Rick VanRoekel. "And we have always wanted our quarterback to be that threat so they cannot always jump Micah (Neidecker). Schmitty really came through and did a nice job."

Schmidt also hit some nice passes in the 24 minutes that he (and the rest of the offensive starters) played. After missing his first two passes, Schmidt hit his next three passes for a total of 123 yards and one score.

On the receiving end of Schmidt's aerial was senior flanker Scott Krzmarzick, who latched onto two of those tosses for 99 yards including a 61-yard strike coming just one play after the Saints had scored on a long pass. Brandon Rolloff, a junior split end, also caught one of Schmidt's passes for 24 yards. With Schmidt able to run the ball to take the heat of Neidecker and two wide receivers like Krzmarzick and Rolloff, New Ulm has four legitimate scoring threats that other team must be concerned about.

"Everyone knows that Micah is our workhorse; he has the speed to get outside." VanRoekel said of Neidecker, who had a 50-yard scoring run and runs of 38 and 23 yards in the first half. "We had a strong offense tonight; it was a fun game to be in," said VanRoekel. "Everyone got a lot of quality playing time."

I really feel that New Ulm can and will beat Blue Earth here Friday. Consider that both of New Ulm's losses have come in the fourth quarter to teams (Luverne and Detroit Lakes) that are state-ranked in their classes. I wrote after the Detroit Lakes game that New Ulm will win the SCC football title and nothing has changed my mind.

CHARGERS HAVE TOUGH GAME: MVL head football coach Jim Buboltz said Saturday morning "a win is a win" after his team downed Faribault BA 14-0 Friday night.

"We are limited (offensively) with what we can do without Dan (Unke) at quarterback," he said. "But we will definitely take the win."

Unke will have his injured foot re-evaluated tomorrow (Monday).

Buboltz said that BA was tough. "I knew that they would be strong defensively. They had a middle linebacker that is 6-foot-2, 225 pounds and is an athlete and very physical."

Danny Liggett carried the ball six times for 66 yards. "He got outside which is a big key for him."

Joel Russow (122 yards rushing) kept the Chargers' string of 100-yard plus rushers in a game alive at three. "We are doing the job offensively; we did not capitalize on a lot of third-and-short situations, plus we had nine offensive penalties. That you cannot do and expect to win."

DEFENSE KEYS MVL: Buboltz said that the MVL defense "is our story this year. Two shutouts in the first three games and we have only give up 13 points in three games."

Keying that play are the linebacking duo of Jon Beilke (17 tackles, fumble recovery and a sack) and Russow (13 tackles, fumble recovery and interception). "Between the two of them, they had 30 tackles. I don't know of many teams that get that from their two linebackers."

LUX FEELS BACKS PLAYED WELL: Cathedral head football coach Denny Lux said that on Tuesday "we challenged our offense that we had to get our halfback involved in the game and if we did, everything would fall into place."

That thought transformed into a 40-19 win over MLBO Friday night.

"Everyone rose up to the occasion because our line did a better job blocking, our backfield did a better job faking without the football and they really responded well."

Lux said that the Hound defense "played well. We had four interceptions an three fumble recoveries. A lot of people were involved in that; we had a pass rush, kids getting in on the tackle...it was a great defensive effort."

He said that this was the "best offensive effort that we have had this season. But we still see some things that we can work on and there are still some people that we can work on to make us a stronger offensive team. We will work on them in practice.

"We are learning more each week what we can and can't do. We are finding out individually what we are good at. We keep working on those things and trying to put our best situation for us on the field, we will keep getting better."

Column by Jim Bastian, Journal sports writer