Nov. 5, 2022 – Loras College football battled to the very end on Saturday, but the Duhawks came up just a couple of plays short in yet another spirited edition of the Key City Clash with the University of Dubuque.

The Duhawks (5-5, 5-3 A-R-C) couldn't match the Spartans (6-3, 6-1 A-R-C) with an overtime score, leaving the Spartans to celebrate an 11^th straight win in the coveted rivalry game.

Loras gave one of their most trusted connections four shots at a game-tying score in overtime as quarterback Evan England targeted receiver Da'Mani Brown on four straight plays from the nine-yard line.  The sophomores came away empty on all four attempts against the Spartans as Tyler Geiman earned the pass break-up on the game's deciding play after Brock Carter broke up the previous three attempts.

Overtime came about after a hard-nosed game between the two that at times was dictated by the falling rain at the Rock Bowl on Saturday. Loras rushed the ball 47 times, marking the second-most attempts in a game this season. Senior Ty Bausch carried the ball 28 times for 86 yards to lead that phase of the game for Loras.

Bausch tallied a pair of touchdowns that both pulled the Duhawks even with the Spartans. The senior's first touchdown came in the final minute of the first quarter to tie the game at 7-7 before his second score in the waning moments of the second quarter knotted the game at 14-14.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Duhawks took their first lead of the game to start the fourth quarter as sophomore kicker Scott Talmadge knocked in a 27-yard field goal attempt. Talmadge tallied a 25-yarder with eight minutes left to give Loras a 20-14 lead midway through the period.

Dubuque struck for another long touchdown to tie the game as Ben Gultig found Wade Sheets for a 41-yard touchdown pass on a 4^th-and-27 play from the Loras 41-yard line. Sheets somehow came away with the catch among a mass of bodies to tie the game at 20-20.

On the ensuing extra-point attempt, holder Hunter Preston couldn't handle the snap and had an emergency pass picked off, which held the tie at 20-20 and effectively sent the game to overtime.

Dubuque got the ball to start overtime and set up a prime scoring chance on the very first play as Tyler Olejniczak broke free for a 24-yard run down to the one-yard line. After holding strong at the goal line on the first two plays, Gultig found Sheets yet again for a short touchdown pass that put the Spartans up 27-20, a lead that held up after England and Brown were turned away during Loras' overtime chance.

England finished the difficult game 16-for-38 passing for 192 yards and one interception. He was sacked four times by the Spartans defense, which was still just half the amount of sacks that the Duhawks pulled off against Gultig and Spartans' offensive line.

Loras racked up a season-high eight sacks in the game, three of which came courtesy of sophomore Brandon Phelps. Junior Andrew Hefel tallied two of his own as the Duhawk front produced another solid day as they held the Spartans to just 102 positive rushing yards.

The loss on Senior Day marked the end of the 2022 season as the next week will serve as the Duhawks' bye week. Loras finishes the year at 5-5 overall despite three losses that came by 10 points or fewer. Loras will likely finish at fourth place in the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) standings after a 5-3 record against conference teams.