As the Simpson football team walked off the field on that October day in Waverly last season, they all knew they had something special brewing.

It’s no longer 2011, but the same feelings were still growing as the 2012 season started this week when the Storm traveled to River Falls, WI to face Wisconsin-River Falls on Saturday.

Junior quarterback, Taylor Nelson, had a solid performance to give Simpson a 31-22 win over Wisconsin-River Falls. Nelson threw for 398 yards and for three touchdowns, all were for 30 or more yards. They were also to the same guy.

Most of the focus put on receivers is usually put on senior Taylor Rogers, but the star of the show on Saturday was Brad Vogel bringing in three touchdowns. Vogel came out with six catches for 141 yards, and in his three touchdowns, none of the three were less than 22 yards.

Rogers hooked up with Nelson seven times for 114 yards.

Nelson also hooked up with senior receiver Billy Weathers for a 72 yard passing play in the second quarter that put away the Storm for good with a then-score of 14-10.

Michael Chia ended the second quarter rally with a short touchdown run to make the score at the time 21-10. On the afternoon, Chia had eight carries for two net yards.

The Falcon defense shut down the Simpson rushing game. Vogel led the team with 19 total yards, but UW-River Falls’ 5 sacks and Nelson’s -32 net yards kept the Storm to three total yards.

Simpson held the Falcons to six points after halftime led by linebacker Mark Cronin with 10 tackles, including two for a loss of nine yards.

John Sims and Scott Vierow may not have had the quantity of tackles on the stat sheet, but they surely had some quality takedowns.

Sims and Vierow each had a Falcon-drive-killing sack for the Storm; Sims for eight and Vierow for nine, respectively.

Background

The Storm came off of last season with a 5-5 record while compiling a 5-3 tally in the Iowa Conference.

There is one less team in the conference, with Cornell moving to the Midwest Conference, but head coach, Jim Glogowski, believes the task does not get easier.

“We still have to play anyone and everyone who comes into our path,” Glogowski said. “I remember in past years Cornell giving us fits last year, and then there’s the other seven teams in the conference.”

Glogowski makes the challenge simple for his team: “We have the ability to win each time out.”

A challenge that the team will have starting out the season is injuries. The Storm will travel with only three cornerbacks for Saturday’s game against UW-River Falls as Blake Heitmeier suffers from an ankle injury, and Adam Bobier is recovering from having his knee scoped.

Glogowski says, it is just part of the game.

“It’s something every team in America has to deal with,” Glogowski said. “We have the depth necessary to have guys step up when needed. We’re traveling three freshmen this week for example.”

On the offensive side, tight end Jake McCulley will miss the entire season with a leg injury.

With those injuries, wide receiver Billy Weathers says it is business as usual.

“We still have to take care of what we have to do,” Weathers said. “I don’t see it as stepping up. We all have to carry our own load whoever is out on the field.”

Weathers returns as one of the leading receivers for the Storm alongside top receiver Taylor Rogers and junior Mike Kuhn. On the season last year, Weathers had nine catches for 79 yards.

While injuries have been the talk of the team, depth also is something to not ignore.

The team brings in 140 players, which is the highest number of players the Storm has put on their roster in the Glogowski Era, which is going into its fifth year.

“You can never have too many guys,” Glogowski said.

Walking off that Wartburg field gave these guys the necessary experience to win big games this season.

“The guys now know what it takes to win those big games,” Glogowski said. “Last season was one of those roller coaster seasons for us. We had that big win against Wartburg in October, but we also came home from Bethel to a 55-3 loss.”

They also learned a lot according to the head coach.

“The guys realize things aren’t always going to go our way, even when we work our tails off. I want these guys to just go out and play. If the ball rolls our way, great, if not, move on.”

Senior Mike Munson also knows that last year was a good lesson for this season.

“We now know how to bottle it up, and we’re just going to bring it again.”

Munson was one of the defensive linemen who helped block the extra point last year that gave the Storm their signature win.

Another staple on the defensive side that night was senior Mark Cronin. Cronin was the defensive leader for Simpson last year, and this year will be no different.

Cronin and Munson will be two of nine potential senior starters on defense.

Cronin achieved all-IIAC honors last year by getting exactly 100 tackles, which was a team-best and a league’s fifth-best.

The senior linebacker was also named a preseason All-American by USA Football News.

“I see it more as of a team honor,” Cronin said. “I’m glad people are starting to notice who we are as a team and seeing what accomplishments we are starting to get.”

The Storm will open their home schedule next Saturday, Sept. 8 vs. Eureka at 1 p.m.