Beem, ground game lead Simpson to win at Loras

DUBUQUE, Iowa – Jordan Beem ran for 108 yards and three touchdowns, including two second half scores, and the Simpson football team beat Loras 27-10 on Saturday afternoon.

A freshman, Beem carried 18 times to give Simpson its first 100-yard rusher of the season. He ran for scores of 2, 14 and 31 yards for the Storm (4-2, 2-1 Iowa Conference), who ran 29 more plays, made 14 more first downs and held the ball for nearly 35 minutes on a chilly, wet day at the Rock Bowl.

"Our biggest goal for this week was getting to 4-2. We did that, now we are going to go home, get ready for Coe and see what happens," head coach Jim Glogowski said. "This was just a solid, workman-like effort."

Jon Powers had six catches for 117 yards and a touchdown and Nate Carrier rushed for 66 yards for the Duhawks (1-5, 0-3), who managed only 281 yards of total offense.

Beem's 31-yard touchdown run came with 3:48 left in the first half and gave Simpson a 14-7 lead after trailing 7-6. His second touchdown of the game – a 2-yard plunge – capped a 12-play, 80-yard drive to start the third quarter that gave Simpson a commanding 21-10 lead. Michael Chia set up the score with a 14-yard run on 1st down from the Loras 17.

"He did a great job," Glogowski said of Beem. "We ran some plays that were really suited to him. He does a great job of cutting back, has really good vision and he isn't afraid to stick his foot in the ground and get vertical quickly."

Beem becomes the first Simpson running back to rush for three touchdowns in a game since Adam Reutzel in 2008, Glogowski's first season as head coach.

Taylor Nelson threw for 191 yards and ran 20 times for 73 yards and a touchdown. Without the services of star wide receiver Brad Vogel, Nelson went 22-for-34 and connected with seven different receivers. Vogel's replacement in the lineup, Nate Connealy, had a team-high five grabs for 68 yards.

Missing from Nelson's 22 completions, however, was a touchdown. The senior entered the game with a touchdown pass in each of his last 23 games, a streak that began on Sept. 17, 2011.

After getting a field goal blocked on the first drive of the game, quarterback Thomas Rose hit Powers for a 26-yard touchdown on the second drive as Loras got out to an early 7-0 lead. The scoring drive took just three plays and also included a 35-yard catch by Powers.

Simpson answered in the second quarter when Nelson led a massive 15-play, 91-yard scoring drive. Simpson rushed for 55 yards on the drive, including four scrambles for 44 yards by Nelson. He finished the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run with 6:11 left in the half, but a missed extra point left the score 7-6.

"The biggest thing today was that we ran the ball with consistency," Glogowski said. "We haven't done that in a while. Our offensive line did a great job and Taylor did a nice job of pulling the ball down and running it when he needed to."

Simpson rushed for 234 yards as a team, getting 47 yards from Chia. Ethan Calvert contributed five catches out of the backfield.

 Alex Severn had a big day on the defensive side of the ball, getting four tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Simpson finished with nine tackles for loss and four sacks on the day, getting 1.5 sacks from David Adams. Cole Wigert led the team with six tackles and Reid Ryan intercepted a pass late in the game.

Simpson's defensive effort in the second half was suffocating, as Loras managed only 93 yards on 23 plays.

Simpson stays on the road next week when it goes to Cedar Rapids for a meeting with No. 21 Coe. The Kohawks (5-1, 2-1) will likely experience a drop in the polls, however, after suffering a 38-14 loss to Dubuque on Saturday.