Offensive explosion powers Simpson past Buena Vista

STORM LAKE, Iowa - Reed Worth caught three touchdowns from J Jensen III in the first quarter, the defense forced four turnovers and scored on a fumble return by Joey Goins, and the Simpson College football team earned its first American Rivers Conference victory with a 55-28 win over Buena Vista.

Worth hauled in three touchdowns with lengths of 32, 65, and 94 yards from Jensen, giving the Storm (2-3, 1-2 A-R-C) an early lead that they would never relinquish. The Beavers (0-4, 0-2 A-R-C) showed some life after the first three touchdowns, but a strip sack from CJ Hangartner led to a scoop and score from Joey Goins, giving Simpson all the momentum into the second half which would see the Storm outscore the hosts 20-7.

BREAKING DOWN THE GAME

• Jensen found Worth for a 65-yard touchdown on just the game's second offensive play.
• After the Beavers were forced to punt on their first drive, Jensen found Worth downfield again for a 94-yard score, tying the program record for the longest play in team history. Joe Blake and Ryan Cooley also had a 94-yard touchdown connection against Luther on Oct. 13, 1990.
• The Beavers answered back with a kick return touchdown right after the long score, but that did not slow the Storm offense down. A 28-yard run from Danny Rankins Jr. helped capped off another scoring drive, with Jensen finding Worth for a 32-yard touchdown.
• Simpson forced a fumble on the next drive, recovered by Wyatt Schaben, but the Beavers kept themselves in the game after a fourth-down stop.
• Both defenses then started to assert themselves, with the exclamation mark coming from Hangartner's sack and Goins' fumble recovery for a touchdown.
• The Beavers cut it back to 28-21 on the following possession but Jensen answered again, finding Cole Staska for another long touchdown with a minute left in the half, this time from 29 yards out.
• Simpson started to pull away for good on its first possession of the second half, with senior running back Desmond Alexander scoring on a 39-yard rush to make it 42-21.
• The Storm defense allowed just one second-half touchdown to the Beavers, forcing four fumbles and snagging two interceptions.
• After the only Beavers' score in the second half, Briley Hayes scored yet another long touchdown for the Storm, scoring on a 48-yard rush to cap off the win.

NOTABLE NUGGETS

• The Storm gained 541 yards of total offense, averaging 12.2 yards per catch and 7.4 yards per rush.
• The Storm defense gave up 312 yards of offense, a season-best, while recording four turnovers.
• All but one of Simpson's offensive touchdowns were from over 25 yards out.
• With his 209 receiving yards, Reed Worth now has 2,705 in his career. He passes Taylor Rogers (2,481) and Brad Vogel (2,535) for third all-time in career receiving yards, and also moves up the career touchdowns list to second with 28. He needs three more to tie Rogers for the program record.
• Hangartner had one of the best individual defensive performances for Simpson this season, recording 10 tackles, seven of which went for a loss, three sacks, a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry. His three sacks is a conference-high this season and the most by a Storm defender in one game since Michael Connor had three against Buena Vista on Nov. 10, 2018. 
• Simpson's defense hauled in two interceptions for the second time this season and forced three fumbles, the most since Oct. 15, 2022.
• Wyatt Schaben now ranks sixth all-time with 252.0 career tackles. 

STORM LEADERS

• J Jensen III - 18-29, 340 yards, 5 TDs
• Reed Worth - 5 catches, 209 yards, 3 TDs
• Cole Staska - 6 catches, 67 yards, 2 TDs
• Desmond Alexander - 15 carries, 89 yards, 1 TD
• Briley Hayes - 5 carries, 51 yards, 1 TD
• CJ Hangartner - 10 tackles (7 TFL), 3 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 QBH
• Wyatt Schaben - 7 tackles (1 TFL), 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery
• Mason Little - 3 tackles, 1 INT
• Joey Goins - 1 fumble return touchdown

UP NEXT
The Storm have a bye week next weekend and will play its next game on Saturday, Oct. 14 at home against Coe.