Eagles hope to snap losing streak with home opener

NEW ULM -- Week four of the high school football season will see New Ulm High School playing their first home game and trying to snap a two game losing streak, Cathedral trying to capture their second straight win, this at McLeod West. And Minnesota Valley Lutheran will attempt to run off their third straight Gopher/Valley Conference victory when they head to Mapleton to meet Maple River.

ST. JAMES (2-1) AT NEW ULM HIGH SCHOOL (1-2) 7 P.M. JOHNSON PARK

One thing is for sure -- the winner of this game will have a share of the lead in the South Central Conference as both teams open SCC play.

"St. James lost their first game (to Windom) before beating Tracy-Milroy and then Renville County last week," said Eagle head coach Rick Van Roekel who saw his team lose a 55-19 game to state-ranked Holy Angels. "They are off to a good start."

VanRoekel said that the Saints "are smaller this year. They lost some good offensive linemen. Their line is not as strong this year but they have (Tyler) Kaus at tailback and he is always dangerous and they have a quarterback who throws the ball decent. They are not doing anything different (offensively). They will be a good club. They have confidence being 2-1 and they are looking at having a good, close game with us."

St. James has shown that they are primarily a running team. "But they will throw a lot of different formations at you."

The Eagles are a little bigger than St. James "and hopefully we have a couple of backs that can compliment our running game also with Eric Austvold and Kevin Neidecker. They may be bigger than (Kaus) -- we may be bigger and maybe quicker (than St. James)."

St. James and New Ulm match up well, according to VanRoekel. "We may be bigger in the front line. But we are still trying to move people around and check things out. Plus, with our injury status, we do not know who we are going to have. So we are trying a lot of options."

Out will be Spencer Dickinson who is out with an ankle injury and Matt Suess whose status will not be known until game-time.

VanRoekel also has to deal with a team that has lost games 34-0 and 55-19 -- both to state-ranked teams -- but both losses.

"We are disappointed (in the losses) but we knew that they were going to be tough games," VanRoekel said. "But we told the kids (at practice) that there are two seasons. Our first season was our first three games -- all non-conference games and all on the road. Right now, we are starting our new season at home in the South Central Conference. This is a new season for us and I don't think that we really played that bad against Holy Angels. It was not like the BOLD game so our confidence will be OK."

VanRoekel said that his team has not had a lot of turnovers "but we need to do a better job on special teams. We need to get that squared away."

He added being at home for the first time in the season will help. "The kids are excited about that. We started practice August 12 and we are finally at home. It will be fun at home."

For New Ulm to win, VanRoekel feels that his team has to move the ball offensively. "We need to run the ball like Austvold and Neidecker did against Holy Angels, we will be able to put some points on the board. We are improving on offense"

NEW ULM CATHEDRAL (2-1) at MCLEOD WEST (1-2) (STEWART) FRIDAY, 7 P.M.

Cathedral coach Denny Lux said McLeod West is a team that is "starting to find themselves" after a 48-14 win over Sleepy Eye Public last Friday.

"We all know that they lost some good players from last year's team and sometimes it takes a few games to get guys to step up and play those spots."

The Falcons enter their home game with a lot of size. "They are a team that is bigger and heavier than any team in the (Southern Minnesota) Conference but that is something that we also faced in our game against MLBO," he said. "As far as size, it is not a huge concern because we faced that against MLBO.'

And it may be a clash of contrasting styles with the Falcons' size and power against Cathedral' s quickness.

"They run the power game off tackles and they have some speed. They will try and power you through the hole but then they expect that their speed will get them down the sideline, so it will come down to us doing what we have been doing defensively this year. Our inside linebackers need to play really, really tough and hard off-tackle."

Lux said that the Greyhounds defensive line also needs to keep up the intensity. "Jeremy Penkert and Al Gleisner (tackles) have played well and I think that they are up for the challenge. They are no small guys themselves. They both go about 245-250 pounds and they have some good strength so it will be a good test for them. both on offense and defense (both play both ways)."

Lux said that for the first time, Penkert and Gleisner " will have a defensive player lined up on them" as the Falcons play a 5-3 defense. Cathedral has seen a 4-4 front their last three games. "This will be a challenge for our center (Ted Wolfe) and our two tackles. (Playing the 5-3 defense) is an adjustment for our blocking schemes."

Lux said that speed-wise, he does not know who is quicker."It is tough go gauge speed on film but we believe that speed has to be an asset of ours. We will try and get Dusty Hillesheim, Mitch Palmer and Dusty Wilfahrt to the outside more and use (fullback) Tom Hazuka up the middle."

Lux feels that Cathedral does not want to turn the ball over. "That is the last thing you want with their power game because they will take advantage of them. We also need to have a solid kicking game and the game will come down to field position. It will be a good ballgame."

With Eric Schugel out, Lux has moved Wilfahrt to a wide receiver and put Hillesheim at halfback. "Hillesheim has good speed and Wilfahrt is an excellent passcatcher."

MINNESOTA VALLEY LUTHERAN (2-1) AT MAPLE RIVER (0-3) MAPLETON 7 P.M.

Charger coach Jim Buboltz knows one thing about Maple River.,

They are the best 0-3 team in the state of Minnesota.

"They are just as talented if not more talented that Waterville," said Buboltz. "They do just about everything right - they run the ball, pass the ball, play good defense and are well coached. This may be the most talented team we have faced."

But they are 0-3.

"Their losses have come by four games and two by six points to Waterville, USC and Blooming Prairie. Nobody wants to play them right now because they are probably one of the more upset 0-3 teams in Minnesota, so we are going to have to have our road-hats on. They want this game."

Maple River "throws the ball well. Their quarterback is one of the top passers in the Gopher/Valley Conference and he does a great job of getting the ball to his receivers," Buboltz said. "And oddly enough, our pass coverage is one of our strengths also so it will come down to which team does something better."

On defense, Maple River " looks tough at times -- will do a lot of stunting, a lot of blitzing. But they have been susceptible to the big play. We are going to have to throw the ball successfully. We have much of the same game-plan that we had against Waterville and that means being able to mix up passes and runs on different downs and try to keep them off-balance."

Buboltz said that Maple River "is big. They are Waterville big. So we are going to have to be ready to go. They have some stud linebackers and some big defensive lineman. We will have to go after some of their underclassmen at cornerback and free safety -- they have a couple of sophomores back there."

How much will momentum --the Chargers riding a two-game winning streak and Maple River trying to break a three-game losing streak -- come into play?

"They are at home. They want to get on the board (with a win) but our guys are starting to feel their oats the last few games. We need to stay positive and do the little things right. Our three game-day goals are to stay intense, have a good attitude the entire game and do the little things right. That will spell the difference between wins and losses. That (getting the little things right) is the reason that they are 0-3 instead of 3-0 - they could be easily 3-0."