After defeating Coe 29-7 for the homecoming game, the Simpson football team moved to 4-1 overall for the first time since the 2012 season. The Storm remain undefeated in the American Rivers Conference, with their 3-0 record.

Head Coach Matt Jeter explained how this record affects his team.

“I think that this is motivating the team,” Jeter said. “When I took over two years ago, there was a high expectation to win. I think now we are starting to see some of that come to fruition with the guys and believing they can win to actually going out and winning.”

Last weekend, the team found itself only up 3-0 against Coe at halftime and had to keep up its morale going into the second half.

“We were winning, though we left some points on the table,” Jeter said. “We needed to take a pause at half time and get back to executing on offense. We had an explosion on offense, putting up 17 points.”

Junior captain and defensive back Brendan Holmes was one of three defensive members that had 10 tackles, along with senior Vaughn Brasseaux and junior Trey Chumbley.

“Defensively, we knew we were doing what we needed to, and I think the offense knew they left some stuff on the table,” Holmes said. “It was a rainy day and things were a little bit tougher, but I think that just knowing we are a team and keeping each other accountable and everyone trying to keep each other up allowed us to really come out after half time and put some points up on the board.”

The second half did not start how the storm wanted, as Coe went up 7-3 in the third quarter. But the Storm offense drove back down and kicked a field goal. The next possession, senior Robert Peters blocked a punt, and Simpson scored on touchdown run by senior Cam Bunting.

This put the Storm on a roll. The squad scored 26 unanswered points to win, 29-7.

“Normally during the game, it is kind of sporadic with how you keep people up,” Holmes said. “I just kept telling the guys we had to play like we were losing, that way we were just keep doing exactly what they needed to and doing it to their best.”

Simpson had to do more than just win games on Saturdays to get to where they are now.

“It starts a lot with having continuity and trust with the staff,” Jeter said. “Second, accountability and dependability with the players. This goes into winter and summer workouts and 5 a.m. workouts. Those things start to build team toughness and attitude.”

The season is not over yet. Simpson has five more games left on the regular season schedule, and Jeter expects the Storm to continue their upward trend.

“You are going to expect the team to go to work every day and bring our hard hat and lunch pail,” Jeter said. “I think that is the mentality of the team and the coaches, too. Each day is a work day, trying to improve and put our best product in the field every Saturday.”

Holmes says the team wants to work hard for Jeter, and they expect to be successful every weekend.

“He expects us every day to just do our one-percent and, especially this year, he preaches trying to do a little extra,” Holmes said. “You can’t expect to be conference champs and not do everything. Just being relaxed is not going to cut it, his expectation is for us to keep our energy going and keep our momentum.”

On Saturday, Oct. 13, the Storm travel to Pella to take on the only remaining undefeated team in the ARC, 20th-ranked Central College.

“It’s a rivalry game, but at the same time, it’s a game that there is actually something more at stake unlike past years, since we are both undefeated,” Jeter said. “It will be the two top conference teams going head to head, and that is going to be exciting.”