A valiant defensive effort ran out of steam as St. Ambrose fell to No. 2 Grand View 34-0 Saturday afternoon at Jack & Pat Bush Stadium in Davenport, Iowa.

The Bees allowed only 337 yards of total offense to the nationally-ranked Vikings, but struggled to mount much of an offensive attack themselves. SAU finished with just 229 yards of offense.

The defensive charge came after a slow start as Grand View (7-0, 3-0 Heart) took a 7-0 lead on a 55-yard touchdown pass on the Vikings' first offensive play from scrimmage.

A muffed fair catch gave GVU the ball at the SAU 3-yard line later in the quarter and the Vikings punched in a touchdown for a 14-0 lead.

But from there, the Bees held their own. 

Early in the second quarter, St. Ambrose (2-6, 0-3 Heart) pieced together a 10-play, 77-yard drive that reached the Grand View 16-yard line. But facing a 4th-and-6 from the 17-yard line, a scrambline Tomele Staples was intercepted to keep the Bees off the board.

With Grand View getting numerous short fields, the Vikings finally wore down the Bees in the second half, scoring on three straight possessions.

A 12-play, 60-yard drive ended with a three-yard touchdown run to give GVU a 20-0 lead midway through the third quarter. After a three-and-out, the Vikings got the ball back at the SAU 41-yard line, and seven plays later, they took a 27-0 lead. Another three-and-out that ended with back-to-back sacks, forced SAU to punt from its own end zone and allowed GVU to take over at the SAU 38-yard line. A 38-yard touchdown pass followed as the lead grew to 34-0.

Staples led a final Bee drive to the Viking 9-yard line before the clock expired.

Colin Gudella led the St. Ambrose defense with 12 total tackles. Brock Mason and Jake Strater each had nine tackles. Jeremiah Crawford and CJ Resto were credited with five tackles apiece and Nolan Obert was in on four tackles. Rolando Sepulveda finished with three tackles, including 1.5 for loss.

Crawford, Resto, Obert, Steven Mumaw Jr., Kye Krofta, Jeffrey Speer and Jamari Chaney all recorded tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

Staples completed 13-of-26 passes for 124 yards. Braden Downs caught five passes for 34 yards. Brennan Wilson and Kameron Bohnsack each had three receptions and Calvin Lee caught a pair of passes.

Maximo Vasquez carried the ball 21 times for 106 yards. Brady Piper added nine rushing yards.

SAU will visit Graceland next Saturday.