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

Nov. 6, 2021 – Taking the lead from the first kickoff and never looking back, the Loras College football team (4-5, 4-3 A-R-C) celebrated its senior classes with a 69-6 victory inside the Rock Bowl against the Luther College Norse (0-10, 0-8 A-R-C) on Saturday.

Elijah Thomas made a statement early for the Duhawks on the opening kickoff, returning Diego Lopez' kick for a 70-yard run into the endzone. The Norse came up with a defensive stop, blocking Nicolas Farfan's extra point to keep the Duhawks at six points. Loras kept the momentum going on the next possession, sparked by a 76-yard run by Ty Bausch and getting the Duhawks inside Luther's 25-yard line and Noah Sigwarth connected with Dwayne Emilus for a 12-yard pass into the endzone for another Duhawk touchdown. Loras scored on its third-straight possession off a six-yard pass to Emilus after Devon Moore connected with Bausch for a 29-yard completion to set up the touchdown. Sigwarth ran it in for the two-point conversion and put the Duhawks up 21-0 with 7:21 in the first quarter. The Duhawks kept the scoring going with another completion for Sigwarth to Mani Brown for 11 yards to go up 28-0 with a kick from Farfan, ending the first quarter with a commanding lead.

Loras continued the drive and Thomas opened the second quarter with a three-yard run into the endzone, taking a 35-0 lead to set the tone for the remainder of the game as the Duhawks continued to build on the lead with a two-yard run by Sigwarth with 10:53 left in the half. Loras' next scoring drive started with an 18-yard completion to Marty McGovern to put the Duhawks at the Norse's 30-yard line and Thomas scored his third touchdown off a six-yard run with 4:38 left on the clock. Farfan's kick gave the Duhawks a 50-0 lead heading into the locker room.

The Duhawks' slowest start of the game came in the third quarter, staying scoreless until the eight-minute mark when Eric Hradek had a 22-yard run into the endzone, putting Loras up 57-0. Hradek scored again on the next drive, taking the snap and going 17 yards for the touchdown at the 3:58. The Norse opened the fourth quarter with a touchdown off a lateral pass from Avant Porter to quarterback Parker Kizer, but the Duhawks denied the extra point.  Senior Colton Bauer hit the final dagger in the win, rushing seven yards to the endzone to put Loras up 69-6 and send off the senior class with a massive home-field win.

Sigwarth went 13-19 in the air for 156 yards and four touchdowns and 67 yards rushing with one touchdown. Thomas had a team-high 85 yards rushing on six carries for two rushing touchdowns and Michael Crawford led the receivers with 68 yards on five targets. Defensively, Brandon Phelps had seven tackles and one interception while senior Mason Morris had five solo tackles. On special teams, Zak Talbot came back from injury with a great game, posting 612 kickoff yards on 11 kicks, averaging 55.6 yards on each. As a team, Loras has 28 first downs and 317 passing yards, adding 292 yards on the ground and limiting Luther to two receiving yards and forcing them to utilize their run game.

The Duhawks look to carry the momentum from Saturday's win into the crosstown rivalry matchup to close out the season at the University of Dubuque on Nov. 13. Kickoff and the battle for the Key begins at 1 P.M.