STORM LAKE, Iowa (Oct. 31, 2026) - The Buena Vista football team was in the red zone four times but managed only seven points against the University of Dubuque, and the Spartans finished the game scoring touchdowns on six of their final seven drives en route to a 48-7 victory inside of J. Leslie Rollins Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

BVU had the ball inside the Spartans 20-yard line on three of its first five drives, including back-to-back drives down inside the 10 but was intercepted both times in the endzone with the second one coming inside the final minute of the first half and Dubuque clinging to a 7-0 lead. The Spartans returned the interception down to the Beavers' 10-yard line which led to a 10-yard passing touchdown on the first play that extended the lead to 14-0 at the half.

The Beavers were forced to punt on their first to possessions of the second half followed by the third interception thrown by quarterback Brett Garcia. The Spartans capitalized and scored a pair of touchdowns and built a 27-0 with 6:19 left in the third quarter.

Buena Vist finally got on the board early in the fourth quarter when Garcia dumped off a pass to senior running back Adriel Fussell who found his way into the end zone from seven yards that made it 34-7. Dubuque tacked on two more scores in the final quarter before BVU had a second touchdown erased on an offensive pass interference penalty and turned the ball over on downs inside the final 30 seconds.

The Spartans did most of their offensive damage through the air, as they finished with 355 yards and four touchdowns. They also added 190 rushing yards and three touchdowns. BVU had 147 yards on the ground and was held under 200 yards passing for the first time over the last two games with 164.

BVU had the ball for over 39 minutes in the game which was 20 minutes longer than Dubuque. The Spartans had five touchdown drives on the day that resulted in two plays or less.

Garcia was 24-of-47 passing for 164 yards and one touchdown but was intercepted a career-high four times. Fussell had a team-high five receptions for 33 yards on one touchdown. Junior Johnny Messerly hauled in four catches for a team-high 36 yards. Messerly moves into ninth on the program's all-time receiving yards list with 1,619.

Fussell had a season-high 136 yards rushing while also carrying the ball a season-best 30 times.

Dubuque quarterback Joey Rhomberg finished 16-of-24 passing for 355 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Cameron Brown had three  of those TD receptions and finished with six grabs and a 146 yards. Kali Freeman had a game-high 179 yards on seven catches.

Tre Fisher and Drew Volkmann each had five tackles to lead BVU, defensively. Volkmann also ripped the ball out of the hands of a receiver following a long pass play deep in  BVU territory. Charlie Brasel intercepted  his first career pass and returned it 11 yards.

Buena Vista drops to 1-7 on the year (0-5 A-R-C) and will travel to Loras College  (2-6, 0-5 A-R-C) next Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff inside of the Rock Bowl.