DECORAH, Iowa - The University of Dubuque football team survived a late scare by the host Luther College Norse after UD's defensive unit stepped up and stopped the Norse inside the five yard line with less than five minutes left in Saturday's 27-20 victory.

A fair catch on the Spartans one yard line started the Spartans drive deep on their side of the field. A Spartans one yard rush and a fumble allowed the Norse to recover the fumble at the two yard line of the Spartans with 4:41 to go in the game. The Norse gained a yard on the first down and lost four yards on a 2nd down rush. The Norse rushed for a yard on third down and would have a pass broken-up by Dre Jarvis to turn the ball over on downs by an impressive Spartans defensive stand with 2:39 left. UD gained a yard on first down and added three more yards on second down. The Spartans rushed for 12 yards and would accept a personal foul penalty by the Norse to earn a first down at UD 35 yard line. UD would run the clock out to capture their final game victory of 2025. 

Joey Rhomberg led the offense after completing 13-25 passes fro 160 yards and a touchdown. He also led the rushing with 13 carries for 92 yards and two touchdowns. Six different rushers gained yards to claim 174 yards on the ground after 51 rushing attempts. Elijah Peters caught two passes for 44 yards including a touchdown with his longest grab for 30 yards. Jacob Garlick finished with 13 tackles including 1.5 sacks fort losses of two yards and collected one fumble recovery. Mike Westbrooks had 11 tackles with three tackles for losses of 10 yards, one sack for loss of six yards.

Bennett Harp punted six times for 156 yards and dropped the ball inside the 20 yard line once. Elijah Diblich kicked off three times for 155 yards (51.7 yds. average) and Bennett Harp kicked off twice for 110 yards (55.0 yds. average). Pato Marvite was a perfect 3-3 in extra points.

UD would finish their 2025 season with a 4-4 American Rivers Conference record and a 4-6 overall mark with four losses to ranked or teams receiving votes in Top 25. This season UD averaged 22.80 points a game while allowing their opponents 28.50 points a game. UD converted on 36.91% of their third down conversions and 25.48% on their fourth down attempts.