Oct. 8, 2022 – Good luck trying to poke a hole in the Loras College football team's performance this week after the Duhawks put on a clinic Saturday afternoon to take down the Buena Vista University Beavers 65-0 in front of a packed Rock Bowl crowd on Homecoming.

The Duhawks (3-3, 3-1 A-R-C) improved to 2-0 at home for 2022 and put together a nearly flawless game to topple the Beavers (2-4, 1-3 A-R-C). It's the first shutout for Loras since a 42-0 win over Cornell College in October of 2008.

Head coach Steve Helminiak's ('91) team took a couple of drives to get rolling, but once it did there was no stopping the Duhawks from putting together a complete game. As a team, Loras produced a season-high with 263 rushing yards and tallied 300+ passing yards for the second time this season.

On defense, Loras was stout against the run yet again as the Duhawks allowed a season-low 40 rushing yards while snagging five interceptions in the passing game, two of which coming from senior defensive back Joey Foley. Foley now has tallied two interceptions in back-to-back games and has at least one pick in each of the last three games.

The Beavers had a chance to take an early 3-0 lead, but a missed field goal spelled disaster as the Duhawks would score the game's first points just two possessions later. Sophomore quarterback Evan England connected on a 38-yard touchdown pass to sophomore running back Jamel Britt with 3:34 left in the first quarter, then a three-and-out for the Beavers led to another quick strike as sophomore running back Keilon Pritchett broke off a 42-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0 Loras at the end of the first quarter.

The rout was on from there as the Duhawks tallied 30 points in the second quarter thanks to two touchdown receptions from sophomore wide receiver Da'Mani Brown, rushing scores from England and senior running back Ty Bausch, and even a safety forced by the Loras special teams on a Buena Vista punt attempt.

Brown caught just three passes on the day but turned two of them into scores. He helped lead a balanced passing attack that saw nine different Duhawks catch at least one pass and seven players catch multiple passes on the day. Senior wide receiver Hareson Willis led the way with five catches.

Bausch and junior wide receiver Jaheem Haynes tallied scores in the third quarter before junior quarterback Garrett Hutchison put the finishing touches on the win with a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Drew Randl. The 39-yard pitch-and-catch was not only the longest pass play of the game for the Duhawks, but it also marked the first catch and first touchdown for Randl in his collegiate career.

The offense wasn't the only unit that shared the wealth as the defense played sound throughout the contest. Seniors Mason Morris and Dawson Charley, sophomore Emmett Fin, and freshman Jonah Clark led the way with five total tackles each. Clark led all Duhawks with two tackles for loss while Foley (2), seniors Jace Gwynn and Josh Rydberg, and sophomore Tim Harrington reeled in the team's five interceptions.

Special teams saw no noticeable miscues either as sophomore kicker Scott Talmadge connected on all nine of his PAT attempts and freshman punter Aidan Driscoll averaged 40.3 yards over his three punts, including yet another that went for 50 yards.

The Duhawks aim to keep this momentum rolling into next week as they hit the road Saturday, Oct. 15, to play the Simpson College Storm at 1 P.M.