[Theme: Newsroom] Multiple Custom Loops

Good afternoon!

I purchased the Newsroom theme but they do not offer support with customizing the theme.

I have done alot of custom themes but this one is through me for a “loop” (haha, pun intended).

Ok so, on this Newsroom theme, it uses a template for the loop and the loop is repeated twice for different posts…but I want them to be separate. For instance, I want the comments and categories to come first above the thumbnails on the “most recent” posts and i do not want to include excerpt. However, underneath that in the “more” section I want the comments and category to come where they are now, only I do want to include the excerpt. It seems I cannot affect one without affect the other because the loop is just repeated. How can I separate this?

Here is the index code: https://pastebin.com/syVadYhv
Here is the loop code: https://pastebin.com/tFbniRd0

I don’t quite understand what it’s doing. Wanting to learn, though.

Thanks!