Kearney, Neb. – Sophomore quarterback Jake Spitzlberger had a hand in eight touchdowns and was 14 of 14 in the air to lead the 16th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney football team to a 65-30 win over Western New Mexico Saturday at Ron & Carol Cope Stadium at Foster Field.

UNK (7-1, 6-0 RMAC) wins a seventh straight game, the longest win streak since the '05 Lopers also won seven in a row. Western, on the other hand, losses a sixth straight game and remains winless in the RMAC (1-6, 0-6).

Moment of the Game
On “Homecoming Day 2009”, the Lopers had a 35-point second quarter to lead 49-10 at the break. In the second quarter alone, Spitzlberger had TD runs of 2, 2 and 12 yards and threw scoring passes of nine yards, to junior Brendan Liess, and 49 yards, to junior Kyle Kaiser.

Lopers of the Game
Spitzlberger (So., QB, Lakewood, CO) - 14 of 14 for 290 yards, 5 TD's; 8 carries for 67 yards and 3 TD's
Rustin Dring (So., RB, Kearney) - 14 carries for 145 yards and 1 TD
Kaiser (Jr., WR, Broomfield, CO) - 4 catches for 124 yards and 3 TD's
Liess (Jr., WR, McCook) - 6 catches for 74 yards and 2 TD's

Pat Ackerman (Sr., S, Holdrege) - 9 tackles, 1 INT for a return of 21 yards, 2 QB hurries
Jake Mandelko (Sr., S, Lexington) - 7 tackles, 1 pass breakup
Colby Henderson (Fr-R, CB, Wakefield) - 6 tackles (mainly on special teams), 1 forced fumble
Alex Paicurich (So., DE, Westminster, CO) - 4 tackles, 3 QB hurries

Opponent Notes
Former Loper QB Dennis Havrilla went 15 of 33 for 201 yards, 1 TD and 2 INT's; he also had 15 carries for 20 yards

Markis Sumpter had a 94-yard kick return for a score late in the 4th quarter. That is the 2nd kick return for a score UNK has allowed this fall

Loper Trax
UNK's 606 yards of offense (286 rushing, 320 passing) ranks 10th in school history

Spitzlberger's 14 of 14 effort sets a new UNK record for completion percentage (for the NCAA record, a QB needs 20 attempts). The old record was 91.7 (Justin Coleman, 18 of 20, 1998)

On the UNK career lists, Spitzlberger moves up to 7th in passing yards (3,404) and is tied for 8th in passing TD's (29)

Kaiser has 23 career receiving TD's, 4th most in school history. He needs 10 more receiving yards to become the 6th Loper to reach 2,000 career yards.

UNK's nine game home winning streak is the longest since then-Kearney State won 17 straight between 1976-79

Up Next
UNK is at Fort Lewis next Saturday