ABOVE: Fairmont's Elijah Johnson shakes off two defenders in South District football game against St. Peter at Mahoney Field in Fairmont.

FAIRMONT – The now 4-0 Fairmont Cardinals are getting ready for the second half of the season with an away game against New Ulm (3-1) this Friday.

With a focus on ball control and tightening up on defense the Cardinals are raring to go in Game 5 of the season.

Coming off a solid performance where they secured a 28-7 victory, the Cardinals were led by quarterback Joe Long, who completed 6 of 10 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown through the air while adding another 35 yards and a touchdown run on six carries. Elijah Johnson held down the ground game with 23 carries for 147 yards and two touchdowns, while Ty Tumbleson had five carries for 36 yards. Receiver Brett Williams hauled in one catch that resulted in a 33-yard touchdown and Hank Artz caught two for 24 yards. Nolan Schultze also snagged one catch for 31 yards.

Despite the Eagles losing their starting quarterback Preston Holberg for the season, New Ulm is still a threat to the Cardinals’ undefeated season with an improved squad, a wildcat threat at wide receiver and freshman quarterback Owen Castleman, who will be making his second varsity start.

“They do have a pretty dynamic player, number 12 [Zachary Hubbard], he’s a wide receiver,” said Fairmont head coach Mat Mahoney. “He’ll do some wildcat quarterback stuff. But he’s the guy that we need to know where he is at all times. We just need to know [that] if he comes in motion, we need to talk, we need to communicate. We just need to really, at the end of the day, we have to know where he lines up at.”

The New Ulm defense brings size to the front which may prove problematic for the Cardinals’ run-first style of offense. That may leave room, however, for Long over the top.

“Our biggest thing is we’re just going to continue to do what we do,” said Mahoney. “I really like how we’ve executed in our run game. And then with our play-action pass. Those are things that we’re just going to continue to work on and whatever they give us, we’re going to take.”

Even while sitting on a four-game win streak, the record is not where the focus lies according to Mahoney.

“We still have things that we’ve got to work on and we’re really not focused on our record right now,” said Mahoney. “To be honest there’s some things that we have to do defensively. We have to become better tacklers. On offense, we’ve got to win first down and keep moving the chains. So we’ve just got to worry about Fairmont right now. And just try and get a little bit better each day.”

Long took a hard hit last week that ended the game early for him and kept him off the practice field Monday and Tuesday due to the team’s attention to player health and safety. Long returned to practice Wednesday and as long as he has no recurring symptoms, he will be primed to start Friday night. In the off chance that he is unable to take the field, wide receiver and back-up quarterback Hadan Toomer will be taking snaps and has the confidence to run the offense if need be.

“Hadan has done a really good job,” Mahoney said. “He was our quarterback Monday, Tuesday. And he finished the game on Friday. And he’s a talented kid.”

In their last meeting, the Cardinals took the win over New Ulm 48-12. The Cardinals are hoping to repeat its success in Week 5 to remain undefeated as they continue their mission to “take it to the Bank.”

This Friday’s game is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. at New Ulm High School.