The Luther College football team hosted No. 25 Central College on Saturday and were defeated by a final of 63-26. The 89 combined points was the largest in the 86th and final meeting of the series between these two teams as conference opponents, that started in 1928.
The majority of Luther's offensive production came in the second half after trailing the Dutch 42-6 at intermission.
Luther's lone score in the first half was produced by
Anthony Thornton, who scored his first career touchdown, on a 49-yard strike from
Brett Liljedahl at 2:23 of the first quarter.
Freshman quarterback
Christian Hiner was given the call to lead the offense in the second half. He responded with his first career touchdown, finding
Aiden Damiani for nine yards at 8:57 of the third frame. The touchdown capped off a 12-play 72-yard drive. Early in the fourth, Hiner connected with
Bryce Buckley for 54 yards, that resulted in Buckley's first career touchdown at 14:43.
Caleb Songstad capped off the Norse final drive of 13 plays for 65 yards, on a two-yard plunge for his first career touchdown, with a little over five minutes remaining in the game
Luther's 26 points was the most points scored on the Dutch since 2010. The last time the Norse had scored four touchdowns in a game was in week two of 2023 against Loras College.
Tyler Ragan, who currently ranks 10th in the NCAA III for total tackles (37), once again led the Norse in this category with a game high nine.
Karl Fuhrman and
Gerardo Morazan followed with seven and six respectively.
Xavier Capton,
Jermarion Williams and
Ronnie Lemon Jr. were all credited with five. Williams was also credited with a sack and
Christopher Jones was credited with a forced fumble.
Sean Medcalfe had another solid afternoon punting the football. He tallied 256 yards on six punts with a long of 50. He currently ranks second in the NCAA III with an average yards per punt of 46.5.
Box Score
Next week, Luther travels to Lincoln, Neb., to face Nebraska Wesleyan University. Kick-off will take place in Abel Stadium at 1 p.m.
