Simpson finished 7-3 overall and 5-2 in the American Rivers Conference, good enough to tie for second in the conference. Head coach Matt Jeter and the team are looking to win the conference championship this season. Their slogan for this season? “Earn it.”

The Storm are coming off a 42-10 loss to Bethel. Bethel is one of the best teams in the country as they are currently ranked tenth in the Division III Preseason Top 25. 

“When you look back on the game it was a 7-3 ball game with five minutes left in the first half,” Jeter said. “We need to execute better as a team the last five minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half. What a great opportunity we have to learn and grow from this.”

Brendan Holmes, Quinn Slaven, and Chris Bowles led the way with nine tackles a piece to lead the Storm defense. Jeter mentioned the consistency needs to be there and that is something that comes with more game experience.

Wide receiver Sam Bartlett had the biggest game for the Storm with 118 yards on six catches. Tanner Krueger also had a solid day under center, completing 15 of his 27 passes. The offense showed glimpses, but still has a ways to go.

The University of Chicago comes to Indianola in a similar state as Simpson. Coming off of a 43-7 blowout loss to Washington (MO), they need to find their identity. 

Wide receiver Jacob Jackson stood out for the Maroons in their contest over the weekend with seven receptions for 68 yards. 

Slow starts are nothing new to Chicago, last season they started the season with losses to Washington and Simpson before winning seven out of their last eight games in route to a 7-3 season. 

According to Jeter, the final and most important key will be limiting the little mistakes.

“The biggest takeaway from Bethel is you have to be at your best every play,” Jeter said. “When you play a top ten program in the country little mistakes turn into big mistakes, which happened Saturday and Bethel was able to take advantage of those.”

Simpson traveled to the windy city last year and pitched a shutout the second week, 21-0, to pick up their first win of the season against Chicago. 

The keys to victory include spacing the ball over the field to various wide receivers so that they can put more pressure on the Chicago secondary. Once the ball is spaced out over the field, running backs Noah Bruckner and Joe Meyer will have more room to work with. 

The offense will fall on the shoulders of senior quarterback Tanner Krueger, who threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns against the Maroons last season. 

We will see how it all plays out on Saturday at 1:00 p.m in front of the home crowd for the first time all season. Coach Jeter and the team are expecting a big turnout.

“I expect the crowd to be crazy on Saturday as we play our first home game against a great opponent,” Jeter said. “We need everyone to show up and be loud.”