By Mike Simmons, staff writer

Heading into the fourth week of the high school football season two area teams, New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva and Northwood-Kensett, remain undefeated at 3-0. The Bulldogs of Lake Mills are nipping at their heels with a 2-1 record while Alden-Conger finally put one in the win column and joins United South Central with a 1-2 record. Albert Lea and Glenville-Emmons remain winless at 0-3.

NRHEG at Maple River

MAPLE RIVER &8212; The Panthers continue to look unstoppable after they ran off 48 unanswered points in last week&8217;s 48-7 win at St. James. NRHEG racked up 433 yards of total offense and of that 308 came on the ground.

The Panthers were 3-0 at this time last season and lost for the first time to Maple River 14-7, the start of a three game losing streak. The Eagles were 9-1 overall and were the class of the Gopher Valley AA Conference at 7-0 last year.

That was then and this is now, Maple River isn&8217;t the team it was last year at 1-2, and the Panthers are much better and have a chip on their shoulder coming into this contest. Look for NRHEG to get revenge for last year&8217;s loss and in the process remain unbeaten.

Key Stats: Season Record &045; 3-0. Have outscored opponents 93-13 for an average score of 31-4 per game. Blake Kerkhoff 367 rushing yards or 122 yards per game. Dakota Tracy five TDs last week, three rush, two pass.

Northwood-Kensett vs. SCMT

NORTHWOOD, Iowa &8212; Another area team that seems to have it all is the 3-0 Vikings of Northwood-Kensett. The Vikings are coming off a dominating performance last week when they beat up on West Bend Mallard 35-0 and allowed just 89 yards of total offense.

But Friday&8217;s game against SCMT might prove to be the Vikings&8217; toughest game yet. N-K squeaked by in this matchup last year 28-27 and its District 4 opponent is once again a solid team at 3-1.

N-K will continue to rely on their stable of three studs in the backfield, Jake Weisert, Brock Johnson and Michael Bachtle to carry the load on offense after the trio ran for a combined five touchdowns a week ago. If the Vikings have success moving the ball on the ground they too could remain unbeaten.

Key Stats: Season Record &045; 3-0. Brock Johnson 300 rushing yards for the season. Offense has 954 yards on the ground for 318 yards per game. Defense has allowed just 322 yards of total offense in three games, 107.3 per game.

Lake Mills at North Iowa

BUFFALO CENTER, Iowa &8212; The Bulldogs passed their first big test of the season last week when they bounced back from a week two loss and steamrolled Nashua-Plainfield 42-9 in Lake Mills. The Bulldogs offense has been getting most of the attention this season, but the defense deserves just as much credit for their 2-1 record as they are allowing just 13.6 points per game.

Speaking of defense, the Bulldogs D smothered NI last year in a 41-0 shutout in Lake Mills. NI comes into Friday&8217;s game with a 1-2 record but is even with the Bulldogs in Class 1A District 3 with a 1-0 mark. If everything continues to click for the Bulldogs as it has so far this year look for a repeat of last year&8217;s game when the Bulldogs travel to Buffalo Center tomorrow night.

Key Stats: Season Record &045; 2-1. Three blocked punts last week. Have outscored opponents 95-41. 601 yards rushing as a team, or 200.3 per game. Jake Brekken 40 carries for 340 yards, or 113.3 per game.

Alden-Conger at Grand Meadow

GRAND MEADOW &8212; It took an unexpected 0-2 start to do it, but the Knights finally got their mojo back last week when they crushed Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Martin Luther 40-12 for their first win of the season.

Coach Gary Sloan&8217;s Superlarks (17-5 last two years) beat the Knights in Alden last year 24-12 and this year the two teams bring identical 1-2 records to Friday&8217;s game in Grand Meadow. If the Knights can bring the same fire that propelled them to victory last week to tomorrow&8217;s game they have a very good shot at avenging last year&8217;s loss to the Superlarks and to pull even on the year at 2-2.

Key Stats: Season Record &045; 1-2. Mitchell Kleinschrodt 43 carries for 234 yards and

two TDs past two weeks. E.J. Knight 145 rushing yards and four TDs past two weeks.

United South Central vs. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown

WELLS &8212; On paper, the Rebels and the Buccaneers seem to be an even matchup with both coming into Friday night&8217;s game in Wells with 1-2 records. But looking back at past games between these two Gopher Valley Conference rivals shows that WEM probably expects to win this game given the fact it has won the last three meetings by an average score of 41-17.

WEM won for its first game of the season last week when they outlasted Waseca 18-13 in Waseca. The Rebels have made some changes to the offense since the season began, but coughed the ball up five times last week in their 21-6 loss at Medford after playing nearly three scoreless quarters.

If USC&8217;s offense can cut down on the turnovers and play at the same level the defense has been playing, the Rebels have a nice shot at going 2-2 on the year, but it won&8217;t be easy.

Key Stats: Season Record &045; 1-2. Five turnovers last week. Riley Swearingen 10 of 16 for 109 yards and one TD a week ago.

Defense has held teams scoreless in seven of twelve quarters played so far this season.

Albert Lea at Mankato East

MANKATO &8212; The Tigers are coming off their third consecutive game in which they were held without a score and could muster just 53 total yards of offense in their 21-0 loss to Mankato West last week.

On the bright side for the Tigers, their main goal at this point should be to just put the ball in the end zone and East is just the team A.L. could do that against. In two of the past three years the Tigers only win came courtesy of Winona, 34-14 last season and 34-7 in 2004. In both of those one-win campaigns A.L.&8217;s next best games came against Mankato East in which it averaged 13 points per game against the Cougars defense.

Look for the Tigers to end their scoreless streak tomorrow night, but that may not be enough to put them in the win column for the first time this season.

Key Stats: Season Record &045; 0-3. 12 consecutive scoreless quarters.

Glenville-Emmons at Madelia

MADELIA &8212; The Wolverines at this point in the season are just hoping to survive after their 46-8 loss a week ago in Cleveland. G-E was already down to just 14 players when three more went down against the Clippers, Bridger Bjorklund, Garrett Schumaker and Logan Hansen who sustained a broken nose.

The Wolverines won&8217;t pack it in just yet though, they are shaking up their lines and have gone to sophomore quarterback Michael Adams and moved Hansen to running back.

Hansen might just be the G-E&8217;s most effective runner but didn&8217;t have the same impact at QB that he has had at RB. This may just be G-E&8217;s best shot at getting its first win of the season. Madelia lost to Nicollet 33-0 in week two and Nicollet was the last team the Wolverines beat, a 38-12 win last year.

Key Stats: Season Record &045; 0-3. Six games without a win dating back to last year. Averaging 12 points per game. The defense has given up on average 46 per game.