Storm get out to fast start, but Wartburg finishes strong

WAVERLY, Iowa - The Simpson football team scored touchdowns on its first three possessions, but Wartburg finished the game on a 35-10 run as the Knights defeated the Storm, 42-31 in the season finale at Walston-Hoover Stadium Saturday.

Jake Rissi scored a pair of touchdowns and Renauld Shelton added another as Simpson (3-7, 2-6 IIAC) built a 21-7 lead with 12:03 remaining in the second quarter.

After a pair of touchdown passes from Nick Yordi to Levi Helbling evened the game at 21 a-piece going into halftime, Wartburg (6-4, 5-3 IIAC) scored on a 1-yard touchdown run by Reese Thompson on its first possession of the third quarter, taking its first lead of the game at 28-21.

Yordi and running back Kyle Winfrey added third-quarter touchdown runs for the Knights, who increased their winning streak against the Storm to 12 games. Winfrey had a game-high 146 yards rushing on 25 carries as Wartburg amassed 506 yards of offense on the day.

Tyson Unkrich finished his Simpson career with 107 yards rushing, completing 15-of-27 passes for 135 yards and a touchdown. Shelton added 65 yards on nine carries and Austin Schmidt carried four times for 51 yards.

Wide receiver Taylor Rogers made his 11th touchdown catch of the season on a 5-yard toss from Unkrich in the fourth quarter. The freshman finished the season with the third-most touchdown grabs in a season in school history. Tight end Alex McCarty led Simpson with six catches for 53 yards on the day, closing the season with a team-high 33 receptions. 

For Wartburg, Yordi threw for 248 yards on 14-of-25 passing. His favorite target was Helbing, who finished with five grabs for 107 yards.

Defensively, senior Cody Jensen had a game-high 13 tackles (six solo), followed by Braden Everding with 12 (two solo). Andrew Creary led Wartburg with 11 tackles (four solo).