Cathedral preps for playoff opener against Raiders

File photo by Travis Rosenau
New Ulm Cathedral’s Colin Anderson makes a tackle during a Nine-man South District, West Subdistrict football game against Hills-Beaver Creek on Wednesday, Oct. 16.

NEW ULM — New Ulm Cathedral, the fourth seed in the Section 2, Nine-Man Football Tournament, will host the fifth-seeded Raiders from Nicollet at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Johnson Field.

The Raiders bring a 4-4 mark into the game with the 5-3 Greyhounds.

The Raiders also come into their meeting with the Greyhounds as the highest scoring team in Section 2, Nine-Man, putting up an average of 36.8 points per game just ahead of the Greyhounds, who are second in the section with 34.8 points per game.

Defensively the Raiders allow just over 30 points per game, while Cathedral brings in the best defense, holding teams to an average of 15.8 points per game.

That defense is led by senior linebacker Joe Gillis, who this season broke Brandon Beranek’s career school record of 340 tackles.

Gillis currently now has 376 tackles and counting — including 90 this season.

Cathedral head coach Denny Lux said that Nicollet is an explosive team that will test the Greyhounds’ stingy defense.

“They have some high scores this year (58 and 62 points) and they had a great win last game over Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda,” Lux said. “In watching the film of that game, they came from behind for the win so they do not give up on anything.”

Lux said that the Raiders are primarily a throwing team.

“Tom Murphy [former Nicolllet head football coach] started it and these guys are continuing that,” Lux said. “Their receivers know how to run their routes, so they are going to be a very good opponent for us.”

Coach Lux said that the Raiders are a team that plays hard for four quarters.

“So our guys are going to have to be ready for that,” he said. “We are coming in healthy for this game.”

Cathedral received the No. 4 seed in the section despite having the same record as top-seeded Cedar Mountain and also holding an 18-8 win over them this season, but Lux is not bothered by the fourth seed.

“We had a number of wins over some programs who were struggling and trying to get back on their feet,” he said. “The QRF took all that into consideration and that is understandable.”

And looking at the teams in the section, most believe that it is wide open for the taking.

“People felt that coming in and they felt the same way last year,” Lux said. “This section has good teams but not those dominant teams like you see in Section 1 or Section 3.”

Lux said he wants to see his team get into a rhythm Tuesday.

“We need to get the run established — that is important because Josh [Bentler] is a very good runner,” he said.

Bentler recently passed 1,000 yards rushing for the season in Week 8 against Hills-Beaver Creek.