WAVERLY, Iowa—The No. 20 Wartburg football team (4-1 overall, 2-1 IIAC) travels to Dubuque to play Iowa Conference opponent, Dubuque (5-0, 3-0) Saturday at 4 p.m.

In the Polls:
The Knights received the No. 20 ranking in the d3football.com Top 25 poll and the No. 21 spot in the AFCA poll.
The Spartans received votes in the d3football.com poll and were ranked No. 20 in the AFCA poll.

Follow the Knights:
Click here to listen to the game which will be broadcasted on The Winner AM 1470, KWAR (89.9 FM) and kwayradio.com.  Mark Simpson, Terry Goetzinger and Matt Ray will have the call.  Pre-game show begins a half-hour before kickoff each week.

Click here to watch the live video stream and live stats.

A Look Back at Last Week:
Then-No. 22 Wartburg defeated Cornell 28-0 last Saturday.

Junior Connor Dahlstrom (Eldridge) scored three of the Knights’ four touchdowns, including two in the first quarter. He scored his first two in the first quarter with his 29-yard at 11:21 and second one from 35-yards out with 41 seconds remaining in the frame.

Sophomore Martin Hyatte (Rockford) had a 45-yard interception return with 2:26 remaining in the second quarter.

Dahlstrom scored his final six points of the day as he punched one in at 4:51 left in the third quarter.

Dahlstrom led the team on the ground with his career-high 144 yards and first 100 yard rushing game of his career.

Senior quarterback Dan Stiefel (Sterling Heights, Mich.) threw for 80 yards and was 5-for-10 with one interception. Stiefel also rushed for 53 yards.

Classmate Levi Helbling (Malvern) and junior Curt Hruska (New Hampton) each had two receptions and finished with 37 and 19 yards, respectively.

Wartburg’s defense held Cornell to 22 yards on the ground as Garrett McGrane (Fairbank) led the core with his 10 solo tackles and two pass breakups. Daylon Bacot, Ross Naylor and Ben Bentil finished with two tackles for loss and Naylor’s was for a loss of 25 yards.

IIAC Weekly Top Performers:
For their efforts in Saturday’s game, senior Robby Salmon (Mason City) and Hyatte were named the Top Performer of the Week at Special Teams and Defense, respectively.

Dubuque’s Jason Spaulding was named the IIAC Top Performer of the Week-Offense for his efforts last week.

Where Wartburg Ranks in NCAA National Statistics Categories:
The Orange and Black currently rank in the Top 100 in 12 team NCAA Statistical Categories. In net punting, the Knights rank 18th, (36.41 yds per punt), 23rd in sacks allowed, (.6 per game), 48th in scoring defense, (16.60 points given up per game), 57th in rush defense, (115.60 yards per game), 67th in pass offense, (235.20 yards per game), 74th  in tackles for a loss, (7.0 per game), 79th  in total defense, (319.60 yards per game), 83rd in total offense, (388.0 yards per game), 84th in turnover margin, (.4 per game), 86th in passing efficiency defense, (111.92 rating per game), 87th in scoring offense, (28.0 points per game), and 90th in passing efficiency, (128.57 per game).

Five players rank in six categories individually. Robby Salmon ranks 8th in punting, (41.62 yards per punt), Jason Shupp is tied for 19th in tackles, (11.75 per game), Garrett McGrane is tied for 42nd in interceptions, (.6 a game), Dan Steifel ranks in two categories as he is 63rd in Total Offense, (241.00 yards a game), and 92nd in Passing Efficiency, (128.02 passer rating). Marcus Williams is tied for 95th in field goals, (60%).

A Look at Dubuque:
Then-No. 24 Dubuque defeated Simpson by a score of 42-21 last week.

The Spartans finished with over 530 yards of offense for the second consecutive week. A balanced output with 242 yards rushing and 290 yards passing. Justin Spaulding led all rushers with 28 rushes for 192 yards and three touchdowns. Wyatt Hanus completed 22-27 passing attempts for 290 yards with his favorite target being the #1 jersey of Michael Zweifel. Zweifel caught 13 passes for 181 yards and three touchdowns with his longest being a 48 yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Miles Hookstead caught five passes for 60 yards and Demacus Fleming grabbed three passes for 40 yards. Tyler Dobratz had one catch for nine yards.

Dubuque's Malcolm Stewart led the Spartans with 10 tackles as a quartet of defensive players finished with seven. Stephen Vassalotti, Antonio Hayes, Revor Runkle, and Marice Hill all had seven tackles with Vassalotti leading the way with 2.5 tackles for losses of 17 yards. C.J. Watson and Trevor Kinnett both finished the afternoon with a Storm interception.

Iowa Conference Rankings:
Wartburg is in the top five in the following team categories: scoring defense (1st, 11.3 ppg), punting (1st, 37.9 net yards/punt), fourth-down conversions (1st, 75%), red zone defense (33.3%), red zone offense (2nd, 87.5%), rushing defense (97.0 yds/game), total defense (2nd, 296.3 yds/game), passing defense efficiency (2nd, 99.9), interceptions (2nd, 4), scoring offense (4th, 26.3 ppg), total offense (4th, 379 yds/game), rushing offense (4th, 165 yds/game), passing offense (4th, 214 yds/game), sacks (4th, 6), passing defense (5th, 199.3 yds/game), passing efficiency (5th, 117.0) and first downs (5th, 54).

Reese Thompson is the league’s fourth-leading rusher and scorer (192 yards, three touchdowns and 96.0 yards/game, three TDs, 18 points, 9.0 ppg) while Connor Dahlstrom is tied for seventh (208 yards, three touchdowns, 69.3 yards/game). Thompson also ranks third in all-purpose yards (264).

Dan Stiefel is the fourth-leading passer (614 yards, three TDs, 204.7 yds/game).

Levi Helbling and Logan Ruffridge stand at No. 6 and 10, respectively among league leaders in receiving with 67.5 and 59.5 yards/game. The duo is also tied for sixth among the IIAC’s scoring leaders with their average of 6.0 ppg.

Marcus Williams is the sixth-leading scorer (kicker) with his 13 points and is fifth in field goals (1) and PAT percentage (10-11, .909). Robby Salmon is the league’s leading punter (697 yards, 41.0 yards/punt).

On the defensive side, Jason Shupp is the second-leading tackler with his average of 11.7 tackles/game and Garrett McGrane follows in fourth with average of 10.3.

Ross Naylor is tied for seventh in sacks (2), Justin Denner is tied for 14th and Martin Hyatte is 16th.

Riley Anderson leads the conference in passes defended (seven pass breakups, one interception) and McGrane is tied for third (3,2).

The Spartans’ Spaulding is currently the top rusher in the conference with his 361 yards, five touchdowns and 120.3 yards/game.

The Spartans also have the league’s leading passer in Wyatt Hanus and leading scorer in Michael Zweifel. Hanus has thrown for 918 yards in conference games to date for 11 touchdowns and 306 yards/game and Zweifel enters this weekend with nine touchdowns and 18.0 ppg.