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

Sept. 18, 2021 – A second-half momentum shift helped the Loras College football team (1-2, 1-0 A-R-C) kickstart American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) play on its home turf on Saturday against Buena Vista University (1-2, 0-1 A-R-C) as a full-team effort came full circle in a 55-34 rout of the Beavers.

The Duhawks made a statement early on defense on Buena Vista's opening drive as Jack Foley picked off Brandon Kyles' pass at the Loras 43-yard line. A quick possession for Loras put the ball back in possession of the Beavers and Buena Vista capitalized on a touchdown off a nine-yard run by Keaton Huebner. Loras stopped a long drive for the Beavers and limited the opponent to a field goal with four minutes to play in the first quarter but the Beavers found more momentum off an interception with 1:11 to play and turned it in to an 80-yard touchdown run.

The Duhawks were down 17-0 to open the second quarter but a blocked punt by Dustin Harris shifted the energy in favor of the home team as the Duhawks took over in the red zone and Noah Sigwarth threw a six-yard completion to Elijah Thomas for the touchdown. Nicolas Farfan punched in the extra point and Loras was on the board with 13:27 left in the half. Loras' defense forced a turnover on downs with 10:47 left in the half and the Duhawks took advantage, charging downfield from starting on their own three-yard line to culminate a 53-yard completion by Sigwarth to Dwayne Emilus for the touchdown and pulling within three of the Beavers with 7:31 on the clock. Buena Vista took their next possession and added another touchdown off a 34-yard rush by Kyles. With 37 seconds left before the break, Sigwarth found Mani Brown downfield for a massive 67-yard completion and set up Sigwarth to connect with Michael Crawford for a three-yard touchdown, putting Loras back within three heading into the locker room.

The Beavers had a strong start on defense to start the second half, coming up with a blocked punt to get their first drive started at the 15-yard line. The Duhawks limited Buena Vista to settle for a 28-yard field goal and pull ahead 27-21 but the Duhawks flipped the script and pulled away with its first lead of the afternoon after senior captain Zach Kemp came up with a critical fumble recovery at the Beavers' two-yard line and Sigwarth scampered into the endzone for the touchdown. From there, Loras pushed the pace and added another touchdown, this time for Marty McGovern off a 37-yard completion by Sigwarth. Sigwarth added another passing touchdown as the Duhawks continued to run over the Beavers with a seven-yard pass to Crawford for the junior's second touchdown of the game.

Loras opened the fourth quarter with another touchdown, this time to Hareson Willis on a 15-yard pass. The extra point by Farfan put Loras ahead 48-27 with 11:30 to play and the defense halted another marathon drive for the Beavers for a turnover on downs at the Duhawks' six-yard line. The Beavers rebounded to post a touchdown off a pass by Austin Smith to the team's key receiver Eric Pacheco for a two-yard score, cutting the score 48-34. The Duhawks were not done yet and with just under four minutes to play, Sigwarth added the finishing touch with a four-yard run into the endzone to give the Duhawks the 55-34 win to open conference play.

Sigwarth moved in to second all-time for single game touchdown passes with six and had the sixth-best single-game passing performance with 392 yards. Bausch led the run game with 106 yards on 12 carries while Emilus had a team-high 95 receiving yards and the touchdown. Crawford was efficient with his receptions with two touchdowns on 18 yards and three targets.

Defensively, Foley, Josh Jones and Josh Kieffer each had seven tackles and Foley along with Jace Gwynn had interceptions while the entire unit helped limit Buena Vista's leading receiving Pacheco to 59 yards as well as only 142 passing yards for the Beavers. On special teams, Farfan was 7-8 on extra points and had 140 punting yards while Zak Talbot amassed 446 kickoff yards.

Loras hits the road for the long-haul to Lincoln, Neb. for the Week 4 matchup, playing Nebraska Wesleyan University. Kickoff is set for 1 P.M.