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

Nov. 13, 2021 – The shortest road trip of the season historically proves to be the most intense matchup of the year for the Loras College football team (4-6, 4-4) against the University of Dubuque (6-4, 5-3 A-R-C) in the Key City Clash, coming down to the wire or a tight margin each year and Saturday's game was much of the same as the Duhawks, who scored first and led through much of the game, came up short of victory, 17-14, off a field goal in the final seconds.

Neither team was going to let the other be the first to score as the first half went scoreless. With four minutes to play in the opening quarter, the Duhawks forced a turnover on downs to get back possession on their own 34-yard line but the Spartans forced Loras to punt and took the ball back. It was not a long possession as Jace Gwynn forced the ball out of Kallion Bucker's hands to force the fumble and recover it at the Spartans' 28-yard line. The Duhawks took advantage of the position and an unsportsmanlike penalty for Dubuque, setting up Noah Sigwarth to run the ball 12 yards into the endzone and put Loras ahead 7-0 to start the second quarter.

With seven minutes left in the half, the Duhawks started their drive off another failed fourth-down conversion for Dubuque but the Spartans' defense picked off Sigwarth's pass on second and 16, starting their drive at their own 40-yard line. The drive lasted less than a minute as Josh Jones answered back with an interception and returned it four yards to set up the drive. The Duhawks were forced to punt and had a field goal attempt with four seconds left in the half and although the kick was off the mark, Loras took a 7-0 lead going into the half.

The Spartans did not want the Duhawks to control the game on their turf and came out of the locker room ready to get on the board as quarterback Keller kept it himself for a six-yard scamper for Dubuque's first touchdown of the game. On Loras' next drive, a 13-yard run by Ty Bausch and targeting call on Dubuque helped set up the Duhawks for a scoring drive with Sigwarth making the ne-yard push into the endzone to put Loras up 14-7 with 5:49 left in the third quarter. Nicolas Farfan nailed his second extra-point of the afternoon and the Duhawks held the lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Just as the half started, Dubuque wasted no time with their drive, breaking away for a 38-yard rush down the field for the tying touchdown and extra point. Both teams forced the other to play their best defense, but the Spartans came away with an interception and fumble recovery for two key defensive stops with less than a minute left in the game to set up what would be the 36-yard game-winning field goal with three seconds left.

Sigwarth led the team in rushing yards with 71 and both touchdowns for the Duhawks and added 162 passing yards with 17 completions. He now brings his all-time total to 6,841 yards and 554 completions. His career rushing yards are 1,558, the most by a quarterback. The Dubuque native also had 223 punting yards, averaging 31.9 yards per kick with one touchback. Williams' 44-yard reception was also a team-high for yards while Dwayne Emilus added 36 and the Duhawks targeted seven receivers. Defensively, Zach Kemp had a big day, posting ten tackles and Jack Foley added nine. Brother Joey Foley added a sack for a loss of six yards. The Duhawks had 19 first downs to Dubuque's 14 while the numbers across the board were neck and neck with Loras posting 302 yards of offense and Dubuque tallying 305. Loras held the edge in third-down conversions, going 3-4 while Dubuque went 1-3.