MVL made it tough on themselves

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Minnesota Valley Lutheran football coach Jim Buboltz was not a happy camper following his Chargers' 35-13 loss Wednesday night to Blooming Prairie.

It was the Chargers' second straight loss after riding a five-game winning streak.

But unlike the 36-6 loss to United South Central, this was a game that the Chargers could have won.

One of the things that Buboltz wanted his offense to to was to control the ball to keep the Awesome Blossom's passing offense off of the field.

This was accomplished , at least in the first quarter when the MVL offense ran off 24 plays to five for the Blossoms. But the Chargers were flagged for five penalties -- three on their very first drive -- that cost them potential scores.

In the game, MVL ran 71 offense plays compared to 57 for the Blossoms.

On their first drive, the Chargers drove to the Blooming Prairie 33-yard line before illegal procedure and an offensive pass interference flags dropped them back to the 42-yard line.

On their second series, MVL turned the ball over before two consecutive penalties -- a procedure and an illegal man downfield -- pushed them back.

Penalties this time of year can not only cost you the game but also your season.

Late in the game, a personal foul flag against the Chargers -- coming not even near the ball -- moved the Blossoms into scoring territory where they hit for their final touchdown.

"After winning five games in a row where we held the lead for 20 quarters, we saw ourselves behind the last two games (except for a 7-0 lead in the second quarter in the Blooming Prairie game) and that is the test of some character there," commented Buboltz. "And right now, that character is not shining through like we would like to see it. We are taking a few steps backwards."

"I thought that we played better offensively tonight then we did against USC. We had things going on the ground with our running game. That is coming around but we need to get a little more help defensively and I think that we can to that against Springfield Tuesday (in a 4 p.,m, playoff game)."

WABASSO PLAYS SOLID GAME: New Ulm Cathedral coach Denny Lux said that Wabasso "played a solid game" in their 46-6 win over the Hounds Wednesday night.

"They played an excellent game -- their coaches told me that that game was the best that they played all year," he said."They were sharp on offense and defense. We did some decent things on both offense and defense but they just basically out-played us all game."

Lux said that the thing that surprised the Hounds was the speed of the Rabbit offense. "We could not counteract their speed -- from their quarterback to their running backs to their receivers, they just had a lot of speed. We had the angles on some of their running backs but we could not catch them."

Lux said that the Hounds "hit hard on defense. When they went off-tackle, we were able to slow them down but the problem that we had was covering their receivers. They ran a lot of crossing routes and with that speed it was hard to contain. We did have five sacks in the game so our defensive line did get pretty good pressure."

"We did expect to play a lot better than we did but as soon as we got back to our locker-room it seemed like our kids focus was on our playoff game ( at home against JWP Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Johnson Field.)"

But the Hounds were also banged up with defensive back Jimmy Vancura leaving with a hamstring injury, linebacker Jacob Schloman injurying a shoulder (but stayed in the game), quarterback Adam Neubauer leaving with a slight concussion. They also lost fullback Tom Hauzka with a knee injury.

"Jimmy Vancure and Tom Hazuka are questionable for Tuesday. "Tom hurt his knee against Sleepy Eye St. Mary's and they are not sure if it is a bruise or what."

VAN ROEKEL HAPPY WITH REGULAR SEASON WIN: New Ulm High School football coach Rick VanRoekel was happy with the play of his team in their 19-14 win over St. Peter Wednesday.

"Offensively, we played well for the most part. Our first drive of the game, we went 95 yards for a touchdown. That was one of our better drives of the year."

VanRoekel, who will see his team trek west to Marshall Tuesday night at 7 p.m. for their first playoff game, said that he was pleased with the play of running back Kevin Neidecker "who had a couple of real nice runs. A couple of time he broke some tackles and got off some extra yards."

On defense, a pair of underclassmen, junior nose guard Travis Aufderheide and sophmore linebacker David Ganske, played a solid game. "Travis did another solid game -- he is the best noseguard that I have had here at New Ulm. There are games where opposing teams will double-team him or try to find a way to stop him. If they don't stop him, they will find him in their backfield. Those centers have a tough time with him. He is strong and quick. We are starting to play a four-man front and he is over a guard. They need to double-team him but he is so quick that he gets around them. He does not have a set pattern."'

Ganske has " really come on this year for us. At the start of the year, we gave him some reps but we knew that we needed to get him some playing time. He got that at the beginning of the year at the "B" squad and ("B" squad coach Rob Butte) said that he was doing well. David played a little bit in the Holy Angels game with linebacker Spencer Dickinson (a junior) out. He did well and David can play quickside linebacker or the middle. He is a durable linebacker -- he has quick feet and really likes to hit. He is doing a great job for us."'

Ganske comes from a good blood-line in that his brother, Charles, is playing football at Dartmouth College.