PELLA, Iowa - The University of Dubuque football team garnered a positive first half on Saturday after leading the #23 ranked Central College Dutch 16-7. The Dutch held the Spartans scoreless in the second half and scored four times to capture the American Rivers Conference road game 35-16.

The Spartans ended with 335 yards of offense (289 passing, 46 rushing yards) while the host Dutch ended the day with 387 yards (229 passing, 158 rushing). The two squads were about even in total plays with Central holding a slight edge with 72 plays while UD ran 70 plays. UD committed eight penalties for just 75 yards, a significant improvement from a week ago. UD converted on 8-16 third down conversions and was 2-2 in the red-zone on Saturday.

Quarterback Joey Rhomberg completed 29-50 passing attempts for 289 yards and a pair of touchdowns and led UD in rushing with six runs for 20 yards. Blake Heffron caught seven passes for 89 yards with his longest grab being from 21 yards. Dereck-Earl Saint-Hilaire collected four passes for 57 yards and DJ Jackson had five for 54 yards.

Tristen Villanueva led the Spartans defense with eight solos and four assisted tackles including one tackle for losses of six yards and an interception. Mike Westbrooks finished the day with 10 tackles with 2.5 tackles for losses of six yards.

In special teams, Brady Buchmann punted three ties for 120 yards and dropped the ball inside the 20 yard line once. Etwood Williams returned two punts for 17 yards with his longest scamper being for 12 yards. Jalen Glover returned one kick-off for 16 yards. Pato Marvite scored on a field goal at 8:15 of the first quarter from 33 yards and kicked off twice for 109 yards (54.5 avg.). Ryan Caprez kicked off twice for 119 yards (59.5 avg.).

The Spartans (1-3 overall, 1-1 in A-R-C) now prepare to host the Nebraska Wesleyan University Prairiewolves (1-3 overall and 1-1 in A-R-C) next week for homecoming on Oct. 4 with kick-off scheduled for 2:00 p.m. The Prairiewolves beat the Luther College Norse by a 44-7 final.