Teams vying for state trip

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Four area high school football teams will be playing for sectional titles this weekend as the football playoffs are one week away from state tournament play.

Tonight at 7 p.m., the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers will travel to Sleepy Eye to take on the Indians in a Section 2-1A tilt. Also, the New Ulm Eagles trek to Mankato to take on the East Cougars in Section 2-4A action.

Saturday afternoon, the Nicollet Raiders hope to repeat what they did last year when they travel to Westbrook to take on Westbrook-Walnut Grove in a 1:30 p.m., Section 2, Nine-Man title game.

The winners of this week's games advance to the state tournament.

The MVL-Sleepy Eye winner will host the winner of the Le Center-McLeod West game next Friday, the same night the winner of the New Ulm-Mankato East clash will entertain the winner of the Champlin Park-Totino Grace contest.

MVL (5-5) AT SLEEPY EYE (8-2), 7 P.M., SLEEPY EYE

The Sleepy Eye Indians are hoping that history can repeat itself. Earlier in the season, Sleepy Eye came from behind to upend the Chargers 19-14.

"That was Dan's (Unke) first game back (from an injury)," said MVL head coach Jim Buboltz. "We played without Joel Russow and Danny Bendix played sparingly (because of injuries); we were a little shallow for the game. We gave them a 13-0 lead at halftime, came back to take a 14-13 lead only to give it up in the fourth quarter. It was a tough game."

And Buboltz knows that this will also be a very tough game.

"They have a lot of weapons; good team speed. They have many more weapons than (Mankato) Loyola did," commented Buboltz. "They have tremendous speed in (quarterback Bryce) Belseth and (running back) Cody Walter and power with Jose Saenz. Plus they have a good offensive line. They also have two of the best linebackers in the area in Hoffmann and Remus; they are fantastic."

Buboltz said that the Charger offense "needs to keep their defense off-balance with our play-action passing. We need that good run and pass combination, with a healthy Joel Russow and a healthy Dan Unke. When those two are healthy and playing well, they are tough. Dan is also making good decisions and calling a nice game. And our offensive line has been doing a fantastic job the last few weeks."

The first-year coach said that the Chargers "have not changed anything for the last four weeks when we were at our lowest point (a loss to previously winless MLBO). We have just started to execute and get confidence. When our confidence level is this high, we feel that we can play well against anyone.

"They are the best team that we have faced all year, and (coach) Dean Deibele has done a fantastic job again this year."

Indian head coach Deibele said that his team "has to without a doubt do a great job of picking up blitzes; we know that they have a very good linebacking crew. They have four good linebackers and we know that they will stunt a little bit. So our offensive line is going to have to do a good job making adjustments on the line of scrimmage.

"Plus, we have to control the ball and be able to run inside and outside. We need to have a well-rounded game plan so they cannot key on just one aspect."

Deibele said that the Charger defensive line and linebackers "are very athletic and quick. We think that we can use our size to our advantage, but they feel that they can use their quickness to their advantage. So it will be an interesting game to see what wins out; our size and power or their athletic ability and quickness.

"We have put together some nice wins, beating Springfield, Cedar Mountain, Faribault, and beating a good Cathedral team last week."

NEW ULM (8-2) AT MANKATO EAST (7-2), 7 P.M., WOLVERTON FIELD

This game pits the champion of the South Central Conference ( New Ulm )against the runners-up of the Big Nine Conference (Mankato East) in the Section 2-4A title game.

"Offensively, they run the single back and use a double wing," said Eagle head coach Rick VanRoekel about the Cougars' offense. "Their quarterback (Ben Kaus) likes to run the ball and that is something that we have not seen since the Blue Earth game when (Buc quarterback T.J. Schmidtke) ran the ball.

"This is the week that our defense has to be sure to stay home and read their keys because if they get by the line of scrimmage, it is going to be hard to bring them down or catch them. They use a lot of motion."

VanRoekel said that the Cougars are primarily a running team and "if they do throw the ball, they like Doug Espenson. He is one of their favorite receivers."

Mankato uses a 5-3 and a 4-4 defense "and they have a couple of good defensive tackles which will a good challenge for (offensive tackles Matt Schuetzle and Craig Dauer). They are big and quick and they also have a good middle linebacker; it will be a challenge for our offense to see if we can move the ball on them and be able to throw the ball on them because they are big."

He said that they key will be the ability "to control their big men. If they give us fits and troubles inside, we will have a tough time moving the ball. We are a little bigger weight-wise but they have taller kids than we do."

East comes out of the Big Nine which produced last year's 4A champion, Mankato West. "They play 4A schools and they feel that they can run the table; it is a big intimidation factor. We need to go out and play New Ulm football (tonight). This whole group of kids loves the game and is hungry and they are focused and ready for the challenge."

NICOLLET (9-0) AT WESTBROOK-WALNUT GROVE (9-0), SATURDAY, 1:30 P.M., WESTBROOK

The Raiders hope to repeat last year's performance when they traveled to Westbrook and came away with a 28-20 win.

'They (WWG) are a real physical and aggressive team," commented Raider head coach Tom Murphy. "They run the ball very well and have good team speed. Because of their speed, they are able to come after you right away and I am concerned about how we will react to someone that does that.

'They are bigger at some positions, and at other positions we are bigger. They are nothing bigger than what we have seen during the regular season. But they are the best team that we have played this year."

Murphy feels that the Raiders "must control the ball. Last year, we made a lot of big plays and threw the ball very well against them. We are not the same team offensively that we were last year and we are challenging the kids this week to get off the ball, get in their face and make things happen."

Murphy said that because of the pressure that WWG puts on, his team has been working on screen passes this week. "We need to be ready to do that to keep them off-balance. But we really need to execute."

The Raiders on defense "have to contain their run. I like the theory of the MVL coach that was used against Loyola when he said that the back will get his yards but you cannot give him a big play. We have to make them earn their yards. We cannot give them big plays."

Murphy said that the Raiders "need to bring the right mental attitude into the game. We did not bring that into the Hills (Beaver Creek) game and they almost beat us. We have to go in with the attitude that we won it last year and we are going to win it again this year. We tell the kids that we have something from last year and they are trying to take it away from us."