Football Lose Conference Opener to Storm By a Touchdown
Sep 21, 2019
DUBUQUE, Iowa - The University of Dubuque football team lost the home American Rivers Conference opener on Saturday night by a 14-21 margin to the Simpson College Storm. Opening day of league play was not kind to the home teams, as all four games were won by the visiting squads. Rain in the afternoon would subside for the Hall of Fame game under the lights of Chalmers Field and a breezy south wind would be about the only weather obstacle in the tri-states Saturday evening.
The Spartans trailed at halftime 0-14 before adding two touchdowns in the second half to tie the game. Simpson scored the game winner with 7:52 left on a 28 yard pass. They used a nine play 66 yard drive and used up 3:30 on the clock. UD would out gain the Storm in total yards 420-354, but posession time was about even. Simpson had the ball for 30:57 and the Spartans held possession 29:03. UD would score on just 1-4 chances in the red zone and the Storm converted on 2-3 chances.
Dwayne Allen Jr. carried the ball 18 times for 73 yards and Kordell Stillmunkes rushed nine times for 54 yards. Sean Duffy completed 22-42 pass attempts for 288 yards with a pair of touchdowns to Jordan LaBelle. He would find LaBelle at 10:19 of the third quarter from 15 yards out for the Spartans first score and he would get a 41 touchdown grab to LaBelle at 11:38 of the fourth. LaBelle finished with six catches for 93 yards. Kody Reimer led all receivers with seven catches for 117 yards.
Chad Marsh led the Spartans defesne with nine tackles and one for a loss. Freddy Walton had seven tackles. Andy Vujnovich punted five times for 210 yards and placed three inside the the 20 yard line and had one touchback. In kick-offs, Tyler Sheffield averaged 57.7 yards on three attempts and had one touchback.
Next week the Spartans (1-2 overall, 0-1 in A-R-C) travel to the Wartburg College Knights to continue A-R-C play in Waverly, Iowa with a 1 p.m. kick-off.
