CEDAR Rapids, Iowa – The University of Dubuque football was looking to stay perfect in American Rivers Conference play, but the host Coe College Kohawks had different plans on Saturday. The two teams played to a 3-3 halftime score, before the Kohawks would score twice in the third quarter. UD responded with a score from Joey Rhomberg to Za'Cameron Brice to slice into the lead 17-10. It was a 12 play 76 yard effort. The Kohawks added a touchdown and a field goal to extend the lead to 27-10 in the final quarter of action.

UD late in the first half on a short field, would see quarterback Ben Gultig sacked on the play and he would exit the game after the play. Freshman Joey Rhomberg would replace Gultig in the second half. The two would combine for 26-57 for 308 yards (Gultig 16-31, 164 yards and Rhomberg 10-26 for 144 yards). The Spartans run game was covered by the Coe defense and finished -30 yards in rushing. The Spartans would convert on 4-15 third downs and were 2-6 on fourth down attempts. UD scored on 2-3 red zone chances after running 69 plays in the loss.

Za'Cameron Brice led all receivers with 10 catches for 115 yards. Hunter Preston caught six passes for 91 yards and Jamari Jenkins grabbed seven passes for 65 yards.

UD's defense forced a fumble in the first quarter and recovered it and grabbed three sacks. Joseph Xiya kicked a 36 yard field goal with 3:30 to go in the first quarter and he was perfect 1-1 in extra points on Saturday. Channing Williams and CJ Dean would both finish the afternoon with eight tackles. Landen Thomas and Jerome Wilson both had seven tackles and a pass break-up. Parker Navitsky led the team with three tackles for losses, including two sacks.

Kali Freeman returned two kicks for 34 yards and Dominick Oelmann ended with one return for 20 yards.

The Spartans 1-3 overall and 1-1 in A-R-C will return to Chalmers Field next week when they play host to the Luther College Norse on homecoming. The Norse grabbed a 9-6 home victory over Anderson University (Indiana) on Saturday.