CLEVELAND -- Lyle/Austin Pacelli football snapped its three-game losing streak with a 44-32 win over Cleveland on Friday night.
Kellen Blaser ran for 195 yards and scored four rushing touchdowns in the first Southern Confederacy, West Division win of the season for Lyle/Pacelli. Nick Ehret also had a big night as he caught a pair of touchdown passes from Caleb Martin and accumulated 139 yards in receiving.
Blaser scored on a 26-yard run and Ehret caught a 23-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. The Cleveland Clippers answered, but then Blaser scored two more rushing touchdowns as the L/P Athletics pulled out to a 30-8 lead.
"We moved the ball at will and they couldn't stop us," L/P coach Mark Buntje said. "Ehret was happy with his big receiving night. We needed to throw, because they were stacking their defense on the line to stop the run. We had nice offensive balance and it was a good win to get us back on track."
Despite taking the big lead, it wasn't clear sailing for the L/P boys. Penalties and then turnovers in the second half continued to dog the L/P Athletics. A penalty late in the first half gave the Clippers some life and they scored to make it 30-14 at halftime.
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"We were flagged for a pass interference penalty right before the half and they scored," Buntje said. "On fourth down, they pushed off, but we got the penalty and then they scored again right away to open the second half."
L/P answered with an 87-yard bomb to Ehret. The Martin-to-Ehret touchdown pass gave the L/P boys some breathing room, but they had a hard time shaking the pesky Clippers.
"We hurt ourselves with three fumbles in the second half and gave them field position," Buntje said. "We had some big plays and pulled back out to a big lead."
Blaser finished the L/P scoring early in the fourth quarter on a 46-yard touchdown run. He also had a 70-yard touchdown run called back on the night.
Lyle/Pacelli (2-3, 1-1) plays Glenville-Emmons for homecoming on Friday night.
scoring by quarters
Lyle/Pacelli 16 14 6 8 -- 44
; Cleveland 0 12 8 12 -- 32
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; FIRST quarter
LP -- Kellen Blaser 26 run (Nick Ehret pass from Caleb Martin), 9:25.
LP -- Ehret 23 pass from Martin (Jake Burzinski pass from Martin), 4:08.
second quarter
C -- Andy Ryg 26 pass from Matt Johnson (pass failed),11:53.
LP -- Blaser 11 run (Chris Bergstrom pass from Martin), 6:08.
LP -- Blaser 6 run (pass failed), 3:01.
C -- Dustin Busbey 8 pass from Johnson (pass failed), :32.
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THIRD quarter
C -- Andy Krenik 3 run (Matt Miller from Johnson), 8:52.
LP -- Ehret 87 pass from Martin (pass failed), 3:53.
fourth Quarter
LP -- Blaser 49 run (Ehret pass from Martin), 11:51.
C -- Kevin Johnson 26 pass from Matt Johnson (run failed), 4:41.
C -- Busbey 21 pass from Tyler Hokanson (no conversion), 0:00.
TEAM statistics
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L/P CLE
; First downs 18 20
; Total scrimmage yards 423 374
; Total yards rushing 257 95
; Total yards passing 166 279
; Passes attempted 19 45
; Passes completed 9 20
; Passes had intercepted 0 5
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; individual statistics
Rushing
Lyle/Pacelli -- Kellen Blaser 18-195; Chris Bergstrom 18-90; Josh Baumann 6-70, Caleb Martin 3-2.
Passing
Lyle/Pacelli -- Caleb Martin 9-for-19, 166 yards, 2 TD.
Receiving
Lyle/Pacelli -- Nick Ehret 5-139; Jake Burzinski 1-3; Kellen Blaser 1-11, Chris Bergstrom 2-13.
