Buena Vista quarterback Tory Beger and wideout Jalen Henningsen each set school single-game records on Saturday afternoon against Loras College,  but the Beavers saw their valiant comeback bid come up just short against the Duhawks on Homecoming, 48-41.

Loras held a 42-13 lead with 9:16 to go in the fourth quarter before the Beavers made things interesing in the final minutes.

Beger and Henningsen got the rally started by hooking up on a 49-yard touchdown strike, capping a four-play, 65-yard drive in just 1:21.  BVU then forced the Duhawks to punt from deep in their own territory and took over at its own 48.

Six plays into the drive, Beger and Henningsen again hooked up for a 23-yard touchdown with 5:46 still on the clock, and pulling back within 42-27.

Then, on the ensuing kick-off, Tyler Stolen pooch-kicked the ball into an open space near the home sideline, and the Duhawk return man could not come up with the ball cleanly on the bounce, and fumbled it to the Beavers at the Loras 22.

BVU quickly made the Duhawks pay, as Beger and Henningsen hooked up on the first play from scrimmage on a fade route up the near sideline to make it a 42-34 contest with 5:41 left.

Still with two timeouts left, BVU elected to kick the ball deep, and Stolen booted it through the back of the endzone for a touchback.  Loras, however, marched down the field, and converted a 3rd-and-6 from the BVU 14, as quarterback Nolan Baumhover hooked up with Mikey Casatoro in the endzone for a touchdown.

BVU didn't go down quietly, as Beger helped bring the offense back down the field, completing 6-of-10 attempts, including a 24-yard pass to the corner of the endzone to Jordan Thomas for his first career touchdown.

BVU's onside kick attempt went out of bounds this time around with 10 seconds left, and Loras took over and simply took a knee to run out the clock.

The Beavers got a 47-yard touchdown pass from Beger and Henningsen just four minutes into the game, followed three minutes later by a 27-yard field goal from Stolen to take an early 10-0 lead.

Loras, however, took advantage of a pair of BVU turnovers and went on to score 21 unanswered points and lead 21-10 at the half.

The Beavers took the opening kick-off of the second half and went on an 18-play, 71 yard drive that ate up more than 9:00 off the clock, resulting in a Stolen 26-yard field goal to make it a 21-13 contest.

From there, the Duhawks scored the game's next 21 points to build the 42-13 lead before BVU put together the late-game rally.

Beger finished with a school-record 436 yards passing, completing 31-of-50 attempts.  He breaks Bobby Brown's record of 432 yards set a year ago against Loras.  His five touchdown passes were just one off the school mark. 

Henningsen, meanwhile, set a new school record with 308 receiving yards and matching a record with 15 catches.  Both records were set last year by Gunner Gilland against Simpson.

Sophomore Cody Mowery had a big 45-yard run on his first carry, and finished the game with 78 yards on 16 carries.

The Duhawks, who led Division III in passing yards per game entering the game, finished with 365.

The two teams combined for 1,179 yards of total offense in the contest.

Bryan Hermann led Loras (2-3, 1-1 IIAC) with eight tackles and a pair of pass break-ups.  Brady Illg registered a game-high 13 stops, including 10 solo, for BVU, as well as one forced fumble.

Buena Vista dips to 1-4 overall (0-2 IIAC) and will travel to Luther College for a 1:00pm kick-off next Saturday, October 17.