By John RittenhouseThe Luverne defense served up a homecoming treat to its fans during a Southwest Conference football game played in Luverne Friday.The Cardinal defense limited Jackson County Central to 183 yards of total defense and created four turnovers to set the stage for a 20-0 victory over the Huskies.Luverne, which had not beaten a Jackson team since 1996 (a 22-0 decision), recorded its second shutout of the season Friday.The effort helped extend Luverne’s current winning streak to three straight games.The win came at the expense of a Huskies team that has been shut out in two consecutive games."Our defense’s ability to stop JCC’s running game was the key," said Cardinal coach Todd Oye. "JCC tries to pound the ball at you while utilizing their size on the offensive line. It didn’t work Friday."The Luverne defense, which has been the strength of the 2004 team, had a lot to do with the lack of JCC’s offensive success. The Cardinals limited the Huskies to 92 rushing yards in the contest, and came up with big stops to thwart all three of JCC’s best scoring opportunities during the game.Luverne’s defense also set up the game’s first touchdown when it came up with the first of four turnovers (two fumble recoveries and one interception).JCC just completed a pass when the Huskies’ receiver was stripped of the ball, which was recovered by Luverne linebacker Brad Herman on the Cardinal 44-yard line.Herman came up with his second straight big play on the first play of Luverne’s ensuing possession, when the Cardinals resorted to some trickery to take a 6-0 lead.Herman took a handoff from quarterback Nick Heronimus during what looked to be a running play to the JCC defense, but it was actually a reverse pass.Herman then delivered a 56-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Brandon Deragisch to open the scoring at the 1:18 mark of the first quarter. A failed extra-point attempt left the Cardinals sporting a six-point cushion.The Cardinals expanded their lead to 14-0 with a drive that yielded eight points late in the first half.Taking over on the LHS 43 late in the second quarter, the Cardinal offense put together a six-play, 57-yard drive that ended with Heronimus tossing a 47-yard touchdown pass to Jared Pick with 52 seconds remaining in the first half.A key play in the series came during a third-and-15 situation on the Luverne 38, where Heronimus threw a 22-yard completion to Herman for a first down.The Heronimus-to-Pick combination also clicked for a successful conversion pass.JCC made a bid to score in the final 50 seconds of the first half when it advanced the ball to the Luverne 15, but Pick batted down a pass in the end zone to end what was the final play of the second quarter.The Luverne defense forced JCC to punt four plays into the third quarter, which set up the offense’s most impressive drive of the game.The Cardinal offense advanced the ball 70 yards in nine plays with senior fullback Nate Siebenahler capping the march with an eight-yard touchdown run at the 6:18 mark of the third quarter.A run for the two-point conversion failed, but the Cards sported a 20-0 cushion that JCC was unable to challenge."Our offense did a nice job of keeping things balanced," Oye said. "Our rushing and passing yards have been pretty balanced this year, and that has worked for us."The Luverne defense shut the door on JCC the rest of the game.JCC had a great field position when Tyler Skow blocked a Luverne punt and teammate Nathan Kolander recovered the ball on the Cardinal seven-yard line.After three unsuccessful runs, JCC threw a pass toward the end zone that was picked off by Herman six inches in front of the goal line.JCC forced the Cards to punt six plays later, giving the visitors the ball on the Luverne 42 with 9:14 left to play. The Huskies, however, lost the ball on downs when a fourth-and-one pass fell incomplete with 7:19 left to play.The Huskies never threatened to score the rest of the night.The 4-1 Cardinals will face another stiff challenge when they play the annual Battle Ax game in Pipestone Friday.The 4-1 Arrows are a team that runs the ball well, and Oye said the Cardinals need to be aware of that."Their tailback leads the SWC in rushing, so we’ll have to stop their running game," he said. "We also need to control the ball on offense, which means we’ll need to mix things up with our passing and running games again."Team statisticsLuverne: 120 rushing yards, 158 passing yards, 278 total yards, nine first downs, nine penalties, zero turnovers.JCC: 92 rushing yards, 91 passing yards, 183 total yards, 10 first downs, five penalties, four turnovers.Individual statisticsRushing: Siebenahler 10-27, Jake Hendricks 9-35, Derek Elbers 4-15, Heronimus 14-22, Ben Nath 6-16, Ben Uphoff 2-5.Passing: Herman 1-1 for 56 yards, Heronimus 5-11 for 102 yards.Receiving: Pick 2-49, Deragisch 2-64, Herman 2-45.Defense: Herman one interception and one fumble recovery, Heronimus one interception, Elbers one fumble recovery, Siebenahler one sack, Jose Saravia one sack.