Storm visit No. 1 Mary Hardin-Baylor to open season

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- A game against the top team in the country is on the docket for Simpson College football on Saturday, Sept. 4 as the Storm travel to Belton, Texas to take on Mary Hardin-Baylor.

Sitting as the top team in the D3football.com Preseason Top-25 Poll, the Crusaders host the Storm in a 6 p.m. contest for the first career meeting between the two teams.

Links to live video and statistics can be found on SimpsonAthletics.com. Andrew Swadner and Rick Wilson will have the call on 94.3 FM or online at kniakrls.com.

GAME 1
Simpson (0-0) at No. 1 Mary Hardin-Baylor (0-0)
Saturday, Sept. 4 | 6 p.m.
Crusader Stadium | Belton, Texas
Live Stats/Video | Live Audio (KNIA)

FIRST AND 10
Simpson hits the road to head southwest to take on No. 1 Mary Hardin-Baylor under the lights at Crusader Stadium in Belton, Texas ... after pushing the 2020 fall season to the spring, the Storm appeared in just one game, a 49-14 defeat at Central ... the Storm are coming off a top-five finish in the American Rivers Conference in 2019 and are picked fifth in the league's preseason poll.

UMHB SERIES NOTES
This is the first meeting between the two teams as both agreed to a home-and-home series at the beginning of the 2019 season ... the original opener in the series was set for last season, but was postponed due to COVID-19.

ABOUT THE CRUSADERS
UMHB and 24th-year head coach Pete Fredenburg come into the matchup tabbed as the top team in the D3football.com Preseason Top-25 Poll and picked to win the American Southwest Conference title ... linebacker Akeem Jackson and defensive back/punter Jefferson Fritz were tabbeb D3football.com Preseason All-America First Team selections ... return specialist K.J. Miller was placed on the second team and offensive lineman Jeffery Sims Jr. landed on the third team to bring the Crusaders total to four ... UMHB went 5-0 to win the ASC Championship in 2020-21 for the program's 16th league crown ... in 2018, the squad went 15-0 to win the NCAA Division III National Championship and reached the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals in 2019.

ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA
Senior offensive lineman Mason Spree became the sixth College Sports Informations Directors of America Academic All-America in team history after he landed on the second team on July 14, 2021 ... Spree holds a 3.88 grade-point average as a computer science and management information systems double major … with his selection to the CoSIDA Academic All-District squad, he stretched the program's streak to 12 straight years with a student-athlete on the all-district team.

ALL-CONFERENCE RETURNERS
After the 2019 campaign was finished, Simpson tallied 13 all-conference selections, including four first-team members ... Spree returns as a first teamer after being a key cog in the rushing attack from his offensive line spot ... Jack Bootsmiller (DL) and Ben Schiltz (TE) return after landing on the honorable mention squad.

UP NEXT
Simpson returns to Buxton Stadium to host Wisconsin-Stevens Point next Saturday in a 1 p.m. clash. This will be the first meeting between the two programs and the Storm's first home game since Nov. 16, 2019.