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DUBUQUE, Iowa - The University of Dubuque football team played one of their best games in their final 2024 game at Chalmers Field on Saturday and narrowly lost to the #11 ranked Wartburg College Knights 24-14. The Spartans fumbled twice and had three passes intercepted, but rallied on defense including a blocked punt for a touchdown to keep the game in sight through four quarters.
UD played one of their most complete games of the season on Saturday and out gained the Knights 382-318 yards. The offensive line provided time for freshman quarterback to finish the day completing 40-50 passes for 311 yards and a touchdown. His favorite weapon was Za'Cameron Brice who was targeted 14 times and caught 10 passes for 71 yards. A trio of Spartans were targeted nine times: Noah Rolling caught nine passes for 38 yards; Hunter Preston grabbed eight passes for 67 yards; and Jamari Jenkins caught five for 44 yards. Eight different Spartans caught a pass in the loss. Tyler Olejniczak rushed four times for 26 yards and Rhomberg ran five times for 18 yards.
In special teams, UD never punted and returned just two punts. Blake Heffron returned three kickoffs for 63 yards and Kali Freeman returned two kickoffs for 16 yards. Joseph Xiya missed a 33 yard field goal in the fourth quarter and kicked off three times for 154 yards. UD converted 6-11 third down conversions and were 0-2 in fourth down conversions. The Knights were 4-4 in red zone chances and UD was 0-3.
Dalton Wood led the defense with 10 tackles and two pass break-ups. Landen Thomas and CJ Dean both grabbed eight tackles. Isaac Acedo blocked the Knights punt in the end zone and the ball was recovered by Rashawn McGlown for a Spartan touchdown to cut the lead to 21-14 with 1:56 left in the second quarter.
The Spartans (4-5 overall, 4-3 in A-R-C) travel west to Storm Lake, Iowa next week in their final game of the season against the Buena Vista University Beavers (2-7 overall, 2-5 in A-R-C) at J. Leslie Rollins Stadium with kick off slated for 1:00 p.m. BVU beat the Luther College Norse 40-13 on Saturday.