Box Score WAVERLY, Iowa (Duhawks.com) - The Loras College football team finished up their season with an 81-21 loss on the road Saturday against Wartburg College. The Duhawks end the season with a 3-7 record overall and a 2-5 Iowa Conference record. Highlighting in the loss was senior
Nate Even who broke two Loras season records.
Despite a lopsided loss to fifth ranked Wartburg, the Duhawks were able to score the second most points against the Knights this season. With Even's seven receptions for 155 yards and three touchdowns, he broke the single season mark that has been in place since 1992. Kendall Griffin, who is a member of Loras' Athletic Hall of Fame, set both marks with 1,138 receiving yards and 73 receptions.
The first half saw the Duhawks struggle on both sides of the ball, surrendering 457 yards of offense to the Knights, while only accumulating 55 yards for themselves. Wartburg opened the scoring on a run by Brandon Richard from 27 yards out. Brandon Domeyer followed up Richard's touchdown with back-to-back touchdown runs of one yard and 53 yards to extend the Wartburg lead to 21.
Midway through the first half freshman Robert Kelly connected with Even on a 16-yard pass, giving Even the Loras school record for receiving yards in a season. That would be the only bright spot for Loras in the first half, as Wartburg piled on five more touchdowns to make it 56-0 heading into the locker room.
Opening up the second half, Wartburg once again got out to a fast start by scoring on a 53-yard run by Jake Haberman on their first drive. Following that score, the Duhawks found a bit of life as
Nate Even snatched a pass out of the air and took it 72 yards for his first of three touchdowns on the day. Following a Robert Kelly interception, the Knight tacked on two more touchdowns to push their lead to 75-7.
Nate Even and Robert Kelly were then able to get on the same page for two consecutive drives scoring two more touchdowns for the Duhawks on passes of 11 and 20 yards, cutting the Wartburg lead to 75-21.
The Duhawks finish out the season with a record of 3-7 overall, and 2-5 in the Iowa Conference. Coach Helminiak and his team have a lot to be proud of this season. 2014 marked an important and critical step forward for the future of Loras College Football.
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Game ChangerRight out of the gate, Wartburg rattled off 63 answered points to take complete control.
Key StatWartburg College averaged 9.6 yards per play compared to Loras' 4.2 yards per play.
Notables- With three touchdown passes, freshman Robert Kelly tied his career-best mark from Loras' game against Buena Vista back on October 11.
- Each of Kelly's touchdown passes went to Nate Even, which was also a season-high mark
Quotable"Wartburg is as good as advertised and then some. They didn't make any mistakes and we didn't execute on either side of the ball."
"I'm very happy for
Nate Even! Once again, he proved that he is an elite receiver in teh IIAC. Congratulations to Nate on his record setting day and congratulations to Wartburg on a great regular season."
Up NextYou will find the Duhawks back in action next fall as they look to take the next step. In the coming weeks, a season in review will be posted so stay tuned Duhawk fans!
