Contact: Emily Zadny, Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7970

Box Score

PELLA, Iowa (Sept. 28, 2019) – The Loras College football team made a valiant effort against American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) foe Central College on Saturday but a fourth-quarter surge on offense and a relentless defensive force could not overcome an early deficit, falling to the Dutch 52-33.

The Dutch (3-0, 1-0 A-R-C) took a 14-0 lead after the first 15 minutes of play following touchdowns by Hunter Robinson from quarterback Blaine Hawkins. Early in the second quarter, Josh Jones gave the Duhawks its first spark of momentum, intercepting Hawkins' pass for a 43-yard return to the endzone. Central added on two more touchdowns before the half but Loras added one as well as Noah Sigwarth connected with Cory Linder to get the Duhawks one yard from the goal line and set Sigwarth up for the quarterback carry into the endzone to cut the score 28-12.

Coming out of the locker room, the Dutch wasted no time scoring and took a 49-12 lead with 9:26 left in the third quarter. Loras responded with seven points of its own as Sigwarth ran the ball 13 yards for a Duhawks' first down and found Sam Maloney downfield one play later for the touchdown.

Loras was able to hold its opponent to field goals for the remainder of the contest thanks to the Duhawks' defense and a critically-timed interception by Zach Kemp to rob the Dutch of a touchdown, giving the ball back to the offense and allowing Jake Burgmeier to score on a nine-yard rush with 8:35 left in the game. Alec Becker came in for Sigwarth late in the fourth quarter and connected with Connor O'Neill on his lone pass of the day for a 24-yard reception en route to the endzone.

Despite the momentum, the Duhawks' offensive surge came too late in the game as Central held on for the win.

Both teams were nearly even in rushing yards as Loras had 164 total yards and Central had 182. The Dutch saw more production in the passing game, tallying 387 yards to Loras' 284 yards, but the Duhawks were 2-2 on red-zone scoring opportunities while Central was 4-6.

Sigwarth threw for 260 yards and rushed for 51 while Jerry McDaniels led the team with 53 rushing yards and Ty Bausch had 50. Maloney had 144 receiving yards on eight followed by Linder with 40 on four receptions.

Defensively, Jabari James Turner-Smith and Sam Jones each had one quarterback sack, combining for a loss of 15 yards while Brett Matye, Danny Kamm and Walker Even each had eight tackles.

Loras (1-3, 0-2 A-R-C) enjoys its bye week and returns home on Saturday, Oct. 12 to host Luther College for Homecoming Weekend. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. and the Class of 2019 Hall of Fame inductees will be honored at halftime as well as the women's track and field team for their 2019 NCAA Division III National Championship title.