Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral’s Josh Bentler, middle, is surrounded by teammates Jake Finstad (15), Brock Carlson (51), Rylan Koopmann (25) and Joe Gillis (40) after recovering a fumble early in the first quarter of Friday’s Homecoming football game against Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman at Johnson Field in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — For the third straight game, it was total domination by New Ulm Cathedral.

Josh Bentler scored on touchdown runs of 80, 30 and 44 yards in the first half and ended the game with 237 yards on 15 carries to lead Cathedral. Jake Finstad threw for three touchdowns and ran for one as the Greyhounds celebrated Homecoming by blanking Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman 50-0 Friday in a Nine-Man, South District football game at Johnson Field.

Finstad had scoring passes of 27 yards to Josh Forstner, a 26-yard touchdown pass to Bentler and a 15-yard scoring pass to Rylan Koopmann and added a 1-yard touchdown run.

Alex Portner added a 43-yard scoring run to the Greyhounds’ scoring arsenal.

For Cathedral head coach Denny Lux, the win was a case of his team once again using all of their assets.

“We are using all of our skills,” he said. “Defensively we are knocking down pass — we are making a lot of athletic plays as we are on offense. You see that with Jake — if he scrambles he finds someone. Our running backs are working as hard as they can breaking tackles. It is a real team effort.”

The Greyhounds got on the scoreboard early and often in the first quarter.

A bad snap on a Jaguars’ punt put the ball on their 4-yard line. Two plays later, Finstad worked his way into the end zone for a 6-0 lead.

After the Cathedral defense forced a three-and-out, the Greyhounds struck fast on the first play of their next possession when Bentler broke loose down the right side for an 80-yard touchdown run and a 12-0 lead.

Bentler’s second touchdown run of the game — a 30 yard jaunt — made it 18-0 after the first quarter.

Cathedral’s fourth scoring drive of the game started late in the first quarter and ended when Finstad found Forstner for a 27-yard scoring strike that capped a seven-play, 71-yard drive and increased the lead to 24-0.

Bentler and the Greyhounds made it 30-0 at halftime when Bentler outran the Jaguars for a 44-yard touchdown run.

In the first half, Bentler carried the ball 11 times for 165 yards and three touchdowns.

“He is so strong,” Lux said about Bentler. “And he has spent the last two years really lifting in the weight room and that strength on the field is showing up. He is tough to bring down and he is so quick from the start.”

And while the Grehounds were dominant on the offensive side of the ball in the first half, they were just as convincing on the defensive side of the ball.

Cathedral allowed the Jaguars just 47 yards offense in the first half with 18 of those yards coming on the last two plays of the first half.

“Our guys are doing a really good job,” Cathedral defensive coordinator Jesse Nosbush said. “We have been stressing flying to the ball — everybody getting to the ball — and when you get nine guys doing that, it does not leave a lot of open lanes. They are playing well.”

Joe Gillis led the Greyhounds with 12 tackles, Colin Anderson had eight tackles, with Joey Schugel ending with six tackles and a sack.

A 26-yard touchdown pass from Finstad to Bentler on the Greyhounds’ first drive of the third quarter upped the lead to 37-0 before the Cathedral defense set the stage for another touchdown.

After holding the Jaguars, Cathedral ended a 49-yard scoring march with a 15 yard scoring pass from Finstad to Koopmann for a 44-0 lead.

Another three-and-out by the Greyhounds defense led to a 43-yard run from Alex Portner for a 50-0 lead after three quarters.

GHEC/T came close to scoring late in the game after a 27-yard pass from quarterback Reagan Emmert to Carter Langford and a 14-yard pass from Emmert to Bryce Borkenhagen. But with four tries from the 7-yard line, the Cathedral reserves on defense kept them out of the end zone.

Nosbush said that the stand by his reserves on defense to keep the shutout was big.

“That was the loudest that our sideline has been in a little while,” he said. “When we get a shutout, I treat the team to ice cream.”

Cathedral (4-2) is at Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart next Friday.