Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral quarterback Jake Finstad (15) races down the sideline during a season-opening prep football game with Yellow Medicine East on Thursday night at Johnson Field in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — New Ulm Cathedral head football coach Denny Lux said that his team played with spurts as they played up to their ability but their performance was not consistent.

Yellow Medicine East, with a 13-0 halftime lead, saw the Greyhounds take a 14-13 lead midway through the third quarter. But YME came away with a 27-20 win over the Greyhounds Thursday night in a prep football season opener.

Cathedral’s Jevan Wilfahrt scored twice, once on a 3-yard run and then on a 23-yard pass from Jake Finstad.

Levi Jakes scored on a 23-yard run for Cathedral.

Jakes carried the ball 11 times for 106 yards, while Wilfahrt had three catches for 72 yards and carried the ball three times for 19 yards.

Defensively for the Greyhounds, Joe Gillis had 16 tackles, a fumble recovery and an interception.

“We were not consistent tonight and that drove up (YME) emotions when we were not consistent with our level of play,” he said.

That inconsistent play reared its head in the first half when the Sting scored twice.

Meanwhile, the Greyhounds’ offense was misfiring in the first 24 minutes.

Cathedral’s longest play from scrimmage in that first half was a 30-yard run by Finstad on a drive that ended with a dropped pass on a fourth-down play.

But Lux said that he talked to his team about the second half

“We talked about the second half — we talked about winning the second half — and we came out in the third quarter and we take the lead,” Lux said.

Jakes’ 23-yard touchdown run and a Wilfahrt 3-yard run set up by a Jakes’ 63-yard run had the Greyhounds ahead 14-13 with just over five minutes left in the third quarter.

“But then we had some breakdowns,” Lux said.

The Sting retook the lead on a Brady Dahlager 40-yard run

Cathedral cut the lead to 21-20 on a Finstad to Wilfahrt 25-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

But Yellow Medicine East salted the game away on a Dahlager 24-yard run.

“We can fix things in practice,” Lux said. “Our players will look at the film and see that emotionally they did not stay even with the game.”