The Central College football team jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead en route to a 41-16 victory over Luther College Saturday afternoon in Decorah in a game heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

Hunter Hoffman threw touchdown passes on three of Central’s first four drives as the Dutch built their early lead, but the Norse scored twice in the second quarter to make it a 21-10 game at the half.

The Dutch offense mustered a pair of Logan Sunvold field goals at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter before the defense stopped a pair of Norse fourth down attempts at their own 20 and 15 yard lines, leading to short touchdown drives to put the game on ice. Coach Jeff McMartin credited his defense for making plays all afternoon.

“I thought our pass rush was very good, especially against a very elusive quarterback like that who’s very athletic. We did a good job on third down, putting them in third and long situations, and we really neutralized their running game.”

Luther rushed for just 86 yards, with 51 coming on one run against Central reserves in the fourth quarter. The Dutch defense came up with six sacks and held the Norse to just 2-of-19 on third downs.

Central improves to 3-1 on the season and 1-1 in American Rivers Conference play. It was a milestone win for McMartin, the 150th of his 20-year career. He’ll lead the Dutch into action for Central’s homecoming game this Saturday against Dubuque.