Loyal overcomes early turnover score to get first win of season

In what has been a tough season so far for the Loyal football team, an early interception return for a touchdown by Kingdom Lutheran Prep on Sept. 17 could have been a reason for more dejection. Instead, the Greyhounds rose back from the miscue and went on to post a 44-12 win.

After playing a brutal early season schedule against four teams that are all ranked in the top 10 in the state in their respective divisions, Loyal faced an unfamiliar foe in a Saturday afternoon game against Kingdom Lutheran. It’s an independent program from Wisconsin Dells, and it featured a wide-open passing game with an agile quarterback.

Loyal stopped Kingdom Lutheran on the first drive of the game, and a Louie Nikolai punt return set Loyal up deep in Prep territory. It cashed in on a Sully Hanson run to take a 6-0 lead.

But Kingdom Lutheran made a bold play next, picking off an Eli Zettler pass and returning it to the end zone to tie the game. From there, said Greyhound coach Chris Lindner, his players decided enough was enough.

“After that, I thought our kids did a good job of taking control and not getting down because of that mistake,” he said.

Loyal took the lead back on a Cain Toufar 35-yard touchdown reception and proceeded to score the next 38 points. Toufar, a freshman, had a monster game, scoring three times, twice on touchdown catches and again on an interception return. He also had two quarterback sacks and recovered a fumble.

Although exact statistics were unavailable, Lindner said Nikolai carried about 20 times for roughly 85 yards, and Hanson had a dozen rushes for another 55 yards or so. Zettler completed six passes for more than 100 yards.

Lindner said Nikolai had an all-around solid game. He made several key tackles, and his kick-off and punt returns gave the Loyal offense several short fields.

The Greyhound defense was successful in limiting Kingdom Lutheran’s explosive quarterback.

Defensively, we were solid,” Lindner said. “I thought we contained him for the most part pretty well.”

Loyal’s next contest is a Sept. 23 road game at Iola-Scandinavia. It then travels to Wisconsin Rapids Assumption, and will finish the season with home games against Rosholt on Oct. 7 and Stevens Point Pacelli on Oct. 1.