Loyal football defeats Pacelli to secure playoff run

By Valorie Brecht

The Greyhounds continued their winning ways by defeating the Pacelli Catholic High School Cardinals in their most recent game, giving Loyal the chance to compete in the playoffs.

The Hounds scored early and often in the Thursday night game at Goerke Park in Stevens Point, which was played a night early due to impending rain in the forecast for Friday.

Loyal put up 22 points in the first quarter alone, scoring four times. The Hounds picked up 20 more points in the second quarter.

“We came out and played well. Our offensive line looked really good,” said Loyal coach Chris Lindner. “We controlled the line of scrimmage really hard.”

The Greyhounds’ offense rushed for 434 yards, with 227 Loyal, from page 15

of those from senior Louis Nikolai on 16 carries. Tryn Scheel was another big contributor, with 153 yards on 22 carries. Eli Zettler had 57 yards on seven carries. The Hounds focused on their run game, with only 3 yards coming from passing.

While the offense was solid, the Greyhounds struggled a bit more on defense, allowing Pacelli to score a couple of touchdowns over the course of the first half.

“Defensively, we did so-so. We had a hard time making stops,” said Lindner.

In the second half, the Hounds clamped down on defense and prevented the Cardinals from making it into the end zone.

Leading tacklers included Cain Toufar with six solo tackles and two assists, and Hudson Hanson with four solo tackles and two assists. Scheel had three solo and six assists. Dane Luchterhand had three of each.

“Our defense stepped it up in the second half. We kept our first-string players in for the first two series of the second half and then we put in our second string. We had a full JV squad for the fourth quarter. They put a score in and also held them, which was good to see,” said Lindner.

By the time all was said and done, the Greyhounds had accumulated 22 more points and earned the 64-13 victory.

“It was a good win considering where we were at at the midpoint of the season,” said Lindner.

The Hounds started their season with a string of five losses, all by a margin of 19 points or more. On Sept. 22, they narrowly lost to Iola Scandinavia, 18-16. Their first true win (not by forfeit) didn’t come until Sept. 29 when they defeated Assumption 42-6. After that, they defeated Rosholt 44-0 and now Pacelli.

“We’ve come a long way. And to start, we had some injuries and internal things going on. But in the last month, the staff and the players turned things around and got on the same page,” said Lindner.

He also gave credit to the team’s seniors: Nikolai, Luchterhand, Hanson and Payton Tsai.

“They’ve really grown and matured, and become some good leaders on the team. Things were bad to start with, but I sat down and talked with the seniors midway through the season. We talked through the things that needed to change. Since then, they really stepped it up and have helped get us to this point. They’ve all been committed to the program all four years of high school. They’ve done what has been asked of them and stayed committed. So, although the year started out not great, they led the underclassmen to keep battling and led us to where we are today.”

The Greyhounds now have a 4-3 record in conference. They will move into postseason play with the first round of WIAA playoffs at Reedsville (7-0) this Friday night at 7 p.m. Lindner said he knows his team will be filling the role of underdog, and they’re OK with that. He said that Reedsville has a very talented quarterback and wide receiver that work well together.

“Our challenge will be how to slow down their quarterback and main receiver. We’ll also be looking to put together some nice drives like we had against Pacelli, and finish our drives, especially when we get into the red zone.

“We’re excited to have the opportunity for some bonus play and we’ll see what we can do.”