CEDAR RAPIDS - In what was a defensive battle through out much of a cold and windy day at Clark Field, the Buena Vista football team came up on the short-end of a tough 27-13 road contest against Coe College.

The Kohawks built a 14-0 lead with touchdowns in each of the first two quarters before the Beavers got on the board just before the half on an 11-yard touchdown strike Dylan Laughlin to Jordan Travis to make it 14-7 heading into the locker room.

On the first drive of the game, Coe was a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth-down opportunities, including a pair of 4th-and-5 situations, to keep the drive alive en route to an 8:00 drive that resulted in a seven-yard touchdown.

Coe (4-2, 3-1 A-R-C) went back up by two scores at 20-7 late in the third quarter with its second pass touchdown of the day.  BVU pulled back within one score early in the fourth quarter with another 11-yard TD pass, this one from Reyes Lara III to Josh Lange with 9:29 left.  BVU got the ball back later in the period looking to either pull even or possibly take the lead, but was forced to punt, and Coe matched down the field in seven plays for a one-yard run with under 2:00 remaining to take a 27-13 lead.

The Beavers had one final chance to put points on the board but eventually turned the ball over on downs at the Coe 26.

BVU threw for 188 yards in the contest, including 120 from Reyes.  Eric Pacheco hauled in a team-leading seven catches but was held to only 38 yards.  Lange had 61 yards on just three catches.

Bryland Menicucci rushed for 69 yards on 16 carries as the team finished with 102 yards overall.  

"Solid effort today against a very experienced Coe squad," said BVU head coach Grant Mollring. "We knew their defense would be one of the best in the league, and offensively we struggled to get in sync. Bryland ran the ball really well as did Stephen and Adrian, but we just couldn't sustain the run game in the second half. Offensively the turnovers were huge and we couldn't overcome that." 
 
"Defensively, I thought we played really well for the majority of the game," he added. "Our run defense was excellent and Coe put a lot of pressure on us by going for it on fourth down six different times. We still need to compete for and win more battles on the back end."

Tanner Frost helped lead that Beaver defense with a team-high 14 tackles as Reed Kruse was right behind with 12. 

Buena Vista drops to 2-4 overall and 0-4 in conference play.  The team returns home next Saturday, October 19, to host No. 20 Central College at 1 p.m.  The Dutch fell at home on Saturday to the University of Dubuque, 28-7.