DUBUQUE, Iowa --- Loras College piled up 605 total yards of offense and held Nebraska Wesleyan under 300 yards as the Duhawks defeated the Prairie Wolves 44-20 in American Rivers Conference football action on Saturday (Oct. 13) at the Rock Bowl.
 
Shaka Taylor scored on a 62-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter to pull the Prairie Wolves within one score at 28-20 with 8:46 remaining.  That would prove to be the final points of the game for NWU as the Duhawks shut down the NWU offense while scoring 16 unanswered points to seal the victory.
 
Loras got the scoring started in the first quarter hitting a big play with Elijah Thomas catching a 53-yard pass from Noah Sigwerth.  When NWU got the ball back they responded right away.  Taylor rumbled 47 yards to get inside the Loras 10-yard line, then Jonathan Curti found Logan Hughes for a 7-yard TD pass giving Hughes his first career TD.  The extra point was blocked making the score 7-6.
 
Near the end of the first quarter Loras hit another big play with Sigwarth connecting with Sam Maloney on a 38-yard TD pass to give the Duhakws a 14-6 lead.  NWU drove down and got into the Duhawks redzone but they turned the ball over on downs at the 18-yard line.  Sigwarth threw his third TD pass of the game with 7:01 left in the half as he found Brad Boelkow for a 24-yard TD.
 
The Prairie Wolves put together a 12-play, 69-yard drive answering the Duhawks scoring drive.  Taylor caught three passes and carried the ball five time as the workhorse of the scoring drive.  It was capped off on a Curti 6-yard TD pass to Bradley Pelkey, giving Pelkey his fifth TD catch in the last three games.  The score would be 21-13 at halftime.
 
NWU got the ball to start the half, but fumbled on their first offensive giving Loras great field position.  The Duhawks took advantage with Sigwarth finding Sam Maloney on a 5-yard TD pass.
 
Taylor's 62-yard touchdown run came with just under nine minutes left on the only play of the drive.  Jackson Hinze made his second PAT of the game to get the score to 28-20.  Loras quickly marched 77 yards to score and get ahead 35-20 to end any momentum gained by NWU.
 
In the fourth quarter, NWU was held to just 2 total yards with Loras gaining 193 to earn the win to move to 4-2 and 3-1 in league play.  The Prairie Wolves lost their fifth straight game to fall to 1-6 overall and 0-5 in A-R-C play.
 
Shaka Taylor had a huge day as one bright spot for Nebraska Wesleyan.  Taylor rushed for 210 yards on 22 carries with one TD.  He was also the top receiver with seven catches for 54 yards.  NWU had 293 total yards with Taylor accounting for 264 of those.  Curti completed just 11-29 passes for 92 yards with two touchdowns.
 
Micah Dexter, Hayden Penny and Jake Kittle each had nine tackles to lead the defense.