Cathedral stiff-arms Indians

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Defense has been a source of team pride for New Ulm Cathedral this year.

Saturday night, that defensive pride lifted the Greyhounds when they needed it.

The Cathedral defense forced three Sleepy Eye High School turnovers, and the Greyhound offense scored on two of those changes of possession as Cathedral snuck out a slim 13-6 win over the Indians in Southern Minnesota Conference football.

Jeff Schnobrich led the Greyhounds' offense with 142 yards on 42 carries.

"This is exactly how I figured that the game would go," Greyhound head coach Denny Lux said. "I know that (Sleepy Eye defensive co-ordinator) Kim Mertz would have an excellent game plan. They made it awful hard for us although we did have four opportunities inside the red zone where we did not score. But it was the kind of game that our kids prepared for."

"Overall, I was pretty pleased with our performance," Sleepy Eye head coach Cory Haala said. "We gave them a run for their money and played physical. But the bottom line is that we had too many penalties and turnovers again."

And two first quarter turnovers by Sleepy Eye allowed the Greyhounds offense to operate on a short field.

The first turnover came as the first quarter expired deep in Indian territory

Beginning on the Sleepy Eye 15-yard line, quarterback Adam Neubauer hit Eric Schugel for a five-yard gain. Two plays later, fullback Ryan Turbes rolled in from four yards out for a 6-0 lead 36 seconds into the second quarter.

"We were able to get it done in the first half by forcing turnovers," Cathedral defensive co-ordinator John Miheve said. "Those gave us good field position."

But that lead would last only 14 seconds as Jason Schueler took the ensuing kick-off and raced right down the middle untouched for an 80-yard kick-off return to tie the game at 6-6.

However, that "T" word popped up again for the Indians with just under five minutes to go in the second quarter when Justin Sellner coughed up the ball and Cathedral's Kyle Reinarts recovered on the Sleepy Eye 45-yard line.

Schnobrich broke off runs of nine yards and one yard and Joey Lux was thrown for a six-yard loss. But on the next play, quarterback Neubauer hooked up with Schugel for a 41-yard strike to give Cathedral a 13-6 lead with 3:01 left in the first half.

The second half was a good, old fashion defensive battle as each team's offense struggled due to the other team's defense.

The Greyhounds' defense held Sleepy Eye twice on fourth down while Sleepy Eye stopped Cathedral on a fourth down on the Indian 16-yard line.

"Other than one real big play, the touchdown pass (to Schugel) where our corner stumbled a little, we did not give up the big plays," Haala said. "We have seen them on film this year and they like the big plays. I thought that our defense overall played real well."

Miheve was also pleased with Cathedral's defense.

"They were coming at us with everything we had," he said. "Our kids were up to the test."

Cathedral's defense was led by Adam Koch with 12 tackles, and Joey Lux added 11. Safety Dan Vetter added five tackles, an interception, a blocked punt and a fumble recovery.