Luther Falls to Wartburg 25-8
Sept. 22, 2007
A capacity crowd estimated at over 6600, saw a great Division III football game here in Carlson Stadium this afternoon. Luther battled #17 Wartburg College toe-to-toe, but came up short 25-8.
Following a scoreless first quarter, Wartburg tallied 13 points in the final five minutes of the second frame, to take a 13-0 halftime lead. A poor snap by Luther on its own 29-yard line set up the Knights first score, an 11-yard touchdown pass from Nick Yordi to Kyle Duchman. On its very next possession, Luther thwarted its best opportunity to score in the first half, when a 43-yard drive ended with an interception in the Knight's end zone. The Knights answered by driving the ball 80 yards in seven plays, capped off with a 39-yard touchdown pass from Yordi to Nick Weber, who caught the ball just over the outstretched arms of linebacker Marcus Hendrickson with just 46 seconds remaining in the half. Wartburg struck two mores times in the final seven minutes of play on touchdown passes of 34 and 17 yards.
Luther scored only the second touchdown of the season against the Knights with 29 ticks remaining on the clock. Justin Feldt connected with Tony Brantner from the eight-yard line. The two-point conversion completed the afternoon's scoring.
Neither offense could muster any kind of running game. Luther held the Wartburg rushing attack to 77 yards, while Wartburg held Luther to 81. For the third week in a row, the pass attack proved to be the difference in the game. Wartburg threw for 253 yards and four touchdowns, while the Norse threw for 197 and one touchdown.
Brandt Rost led the Luther defense with 10 tackles. He was followed by Alex Mierau with nine and Mike Tangen with six.
Tyler Sherden, who was averaging over 170 yards rushing per game, was held to 60 on 24 carries. Adam Lamos tallied the longest run of the afternoon of 29-yards en route to a total of 38 for the afternoon.
Justin Feldt was 21 of 34 and was picked off twice. He found six different receivers led by Sherden with seven catches and Tony Brantner and Jesse Kent with four each.
The loss leaves the Norse (0-2, 0-3) still looking for their first win of the season. Wartburg (2-0, 3-0) remained in a tie for the conference lead with Central (2-0, 4-0) and Coe (2-0, 4-0). Central defeated Loras (1-1, 2-2) 17-14 in Dubuque this afternoon, while Coe blanked Buena Vista (0-2, 2-2) in Storm Lake 17-0. Luther will travel to Cornell College next Saturday with kick-off scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
