LYLE – On homecoming Lyle/Pacelli (3-2) was looking to upset 6th-ranked Nicollet (5-0).

Saturday, September 30, 2000

LYLE – On homecoming Lyle/Pacelli (3-2) was looking to upset 6th-ranked Nicollet (5-0). The Lions played well enough, but couldn’t overcome some costly miscues that led to a 24-6 win for the Raiders.

"We tried man," L/P quarterback Danny Greibrok said.

Down 18-0 at the end of the third quarter L/P kept battling.

"We knew they wouldn’t quit," Nicollet coach Tom Murphy said. "They would keep fighting until the end."

The Lion’s responded with an 18-play, 76-yard scoring drive. One of the big plays on the drive was a fourth down fake punt that Brandon Hall ran for seven yards and a first down. It was the second straight week that up-man Hall has converted on the direct snap play.

"I love that play," the 5-foot-4, 140 pound Hall said. "I might have got more yards on the play if I didn’t like to hit that much."

Another big play was a 10-yard scramble by Greibrok on another fourth down play. The final big play, again on fourth down, was a 23-yard scoring pass to Phil Halbach on a corner route at the 8:51 mark of the fourth quarter.

"We were going the other way on passes on that drive," Halbach said, "which loosened up the coverage on me. On the touchdown it was single coverage and Danny made a great throw."

Greibrok was 9of 15 passing for 132 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Halbach had six receptions for 91 yards, all in the second half.

L/P then needed to stop the Raiders but were unable to. The Raiders went on a 12-play, 69-yard drive and scored their fourth TD of the game with 3:19 left on the clock. For the game Nicollet had 174 yards rushing and 125 yards passing.

L/P picked up 117 yards on the ground with Chris Maly running for 44 and Cory Ransom 47.

The Raiders took a 12-0 lead at the beginning of the second quarter with two scores a minute a part. The first TD was set up by a short punt into the wind at the beginning of the first quarter.

L/P had thwarted Nicollet deep in its own territory on a Jared Koopal interception. Koopal also made an interception on a Nicollet two-point conversion attempt

The Lions took over at the seven with 2:01 left in the first quarter. Three L/P running plays that gained less than 10 yards were not enough time to run out the clock.

"We tried our hardest to punt with the wind but were five seconds short," L/P coach Mark Buntje said.

Nicollet took advantage of that punt with a four-play 28 yard scoring drive. Sophomore Tony Hulke cut to the inside on a sweep to score from 13 yards out.

On the ensuing possession L/P was called for holding on a running play setting up a second and long at the 19 yard line. L/P called a screen pass but Nicollet’s 6-foot-6 Jake Grappa snuffed it out and made the interception returning it for a 13-yard TD.

"I couldn’t throw the ball over his head," Greibrok said . "He must have jumped two feet in the air, too."

L/P was still in the game. At the end of the half they were going in for a score but the Raiders defense made another big play.

"I was very happy with our defense," Nicollet coach Tom Murphy said. "It was the first game we were missing linebacker Kyle Asleson who has had a big season for us. I didn’t know how well we would play without him."

Making the big play instead was Jamie Wagner, who made Nicollet’s second pick of the game to finish off L/P’s scoring chance.

Nicollet would strike first in the second half on a 53-yard scoring pass by Andy Truebenbach to Hulke. Hulke was a huge part of the diverse Nicollet offense gaining over 100 yards rushing including an eight yard run on the tail end of a hook and latter play.

"I like to keep things interesting," Murphy said about his wide open attack.