PELLA, Iowa (Oct. 24, 2026) - Central College broke open a seven-point game with a touchdown at the end of the first half and two more within the first two minutes of the second half and went on to defeat the Buena Vista University football team 56-21.
BVU went 75 yards in eight plays on the game's opening drive as junior
Carson Lullmann hauled in his first career touchdown reception that put BVU in front 7-0. The Dutch came right back with a touchdown run five minutes later that made it 7-7. The Dutch went in front for the first time at 14-7 with a two-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter.Â
Junior quarterback
Brett Garcia capped an 11-play, 74-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown run five minutes later that again tied the game at 14-14. On the ensuing drive, Central burned six minutes off the clock and got a three-yard touchdown pass to cap an 11-play drive of its own to regain a 21-14 lead. The Beavers began their next drive at their own 19-yard line and marched down to the Dutch 43, but turned the ball over on downs after coming a yard short on 4th-and-2. That left the Dutch with 1:25 left in the half, and they took advantage and got a 10-yard touchdown run with 32 seconds remaining which pushed the lead to 28-14.
Central began the second half with a 65-yard touchdown strike on the first play of the half and then recovered an onside kick which led to a 39-yard touchdown pass on the fourth play which broke the game open at 42-14. The Dutch added a touchdown run late in the quarter and then a one-yard burst midway through the fourth for the final score. BVU got a five-yard touchdown catch from freshman
Jude Baumgardner which was the first in his career.
Garcia had another solid game through the air by completing 26-of-39 attempts for a career-high 268 yards and two touchdowns while also being intercepted twice. Senior
Adriel Fussell rushed 21 times for 62 yards while Garcia had the only other carry which resulted in the first-half touchdown. BVU finished with 333 yards of total offense and averaged 5.5 yards per play.
Central (4-3, 2-2 A-R-C) had over 250 yards on both the ground and through the air and finished with 535 yards of total offense.Â
Ethan Wiersma had a team-high 11 tackles for the Beavers while
Quincy Donalde followed with 10. Senior
Drew Volkmann intercepted the team's first pass of the year to go along with his five tackles.
Buena Vista drops to 1-6 overall (0-4 A-R-C) and returns home next Saturday, Oct. 31 to host the University of Dubuque (4-3, 3-1 A-R-C) at 1 p.m.
