DUBUQUE, Iowa - The University of Dubuque football team kicked off their 2026 season on Saturday night under the lights of Chalmers Field during Labor Day Weekend. The Spartans carried a 17-10 lead into halftime, but the second half was all Blue Devils as they rallied to out score UD 24-3 in the final half of action to capture the season opener for both teams 34-20.
UD finished the night with 362 yards of offense in 82 plays. The Spartans grabbed 24 first downs and converted 10-20 third downs and held the edge in possession time 31:40 to the Blue Devils 28:20.
Joey Rhomberg led the offense by completing 32-52 passing attempts for 325 yards and a pair of touchdowns. UD scored first off a 24 yard pass to
Cameron Brown at 5:59 of the first quarter. Noah Rolling score the Spartans second touchdown off a 10 yard pass with 10:47 left in the second period.
Isaiah Martinez rushed 10 times for 23 yards with his longest being from six yards. Noah Rolling ran seven times for 13 yards as UD finished the night with 37 yards on the ground.
Cameron Brown led all receivers with 14 catches for 180 yards with his longest being 27 yards.
Elijah Peters caught five for 55 yards, and
Kali Freeman had six catches for 52 yards. Seven different receivers would finish with a catch.
Defensively
Isaac Hefel collected 10 tackles trailed by a trio of Spartans
Trey Roberson,
Dre Jarvis, and
Giovanni Rivera would all have six tackles. Roberson and Jarvis finished with two pass break-ups each.
Brady Buchmann punted five times for 156 yards for an average of 31.2 yards and placed one inside the 20.
Etwood Williams returned two kickoffs for 38 yards and
Mekyael Hall returned one kick for 13 yards.
Bennett Harp missed his first field goal of 27 yards at 8:51 of the first quarter. He would rally and connect for two filed goals, one from 31 yards and one from 22 yards to tie the game in the fourth quarter 20-20
The Spartans will travel to Platteville, Wisconsin. next week, Sept. 12 at 1:00 p.m. against the UW-Platteville Pioneers. UD will be off on Sept. 19, before returning home to play McMurry (Texas) at 1:00 p.m.
