St. Ambrose was unable to hold on to an early 14-0 lead in a season-ending 21-14 setback to Peru State at Jack and Pat Bush Stadium Saturday.

Prior to the game, SAU held Senior Day festivities, recognizing members of the Fighting Bee Marching Band, the SAU Cheer and Dance Teams, and 15 members of the St. Ambrose football program - Jake Ackman, Robert Clark, Aidan Flynn, Casey Forbes, Pat Galeher, Kaden King, Jaxson McGuire, Joe Namio, Jake Strater, Jonathan Thurman, Luke Vera, Kyle Yehling, and managers Ally Reed, Kyle Uhl and Mariah Underwood.

Then the Bees got off to a great start on the field.

With the defense allowing only four total yards on 12 plays, forcing, four three-and-outs, in the entire first quarter, St. Ambrose (3-8, 1-5 Heart) was able to get on the board first. Tomele Staples found Jalen Coleman on a 25-yard touchdown pass midway through the opening period for a 7-0 lead.

Staples engineered a 17-play, 77-yard drive that chewed up 8:51 bridging the first and second quarters, and ultimately found Calvin Lee on a five-yard scoring toss that put the Bees up 14-0.

Peru State (7-3, 5-2 Heart) earned its first first down of the game in the second quarter as the Bobcats finally found some minimal offensive success.

But PSU's first points came after a great SAU defensive stand. Facing a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line, the Bees came up big, stuffing the Bobcats on four consecutive plays to force a turnover on downs. But on their second play from the one, Lee was brought down in the end zone for a safety.

The lead was 14-2 at the half, but after accumulating 138 yards in the opening half, St. Ambrose picked up just 74 yards in the second half.

Peru State, which finished with just 309 yards of total offense, got its first offensive points of the game midway through the first quarter. A 40-yard touchdown pass trimmed the SAU lead to 14-9. Late in the third, the Bobcats tacked on a 21-yard field goal to pull to within 14-12.

PSU took the lead for good early in the fourth. A 10-play, 78-yard drive ended with a short touchdown pass to give the Bobcats an 18-14 lead. They added a 32-yard field goal with 4:47 left to account for the final score.

Staples completed 12-of-18 passes for 107 yards. Jake Ackman completed eight passes for 58 yards.

Coleman led the receiving corps with six catches for 72 yards. Kameron Bohnsack had five catches for 47 yards. Braden Downs, Charles Jones and Lee also had multiple receptions.

Lee carried the ball 19 times for 37 yards. Maximo Vasquez added 16 rushing yards on four attempts.

Colin Gudella led the defense with 14 total tackles. Jake Strater was in on 11 stops and Brock Mason was credited with 10. CJ Resto finished with seven tackles, while Grant Macke and Jamari Chaney each made six in the season finale.