STORM LAKE, Iowa (Sept. 27, 2025) - The Buena Vista football team hosted Simpson College for Homecoming on Saturday afternoon, but it was the offensive miscues that hindered BVU throughout its 41-0 loss inside of J. Leslie Rollins Stadium.

The Storm defense forced the Beavers into throw a pair of interceptions that were returned for a touchdown and had one fumbled snap on a punt attempt that was recovered in the end-zone for another score. In all, BVU fumbled six times in the game and lost three.

Simpson broke a scoreless tie late in the first quarter by connecting on a 36-yard field goal with 35 seconds remaining that gave the Storm a 3-0 lead.

After driving down to the Simpson 39-yard line on the game's opening drive before losing the ball on a fumble, BVU took the ensuing kick off and got a big 45-yard catch and run by Meven Obregon that went down to the Simpson 30. Three plays later, however, sophomore quarterback Brett Garcia tried to get a screen pass across the middle but his attempt was intercepted by CJ Hangartner and returned 76 yards the other way to make it 10-0.

The Storm then came up with its second straight pick-six as Garcia was intercepted when trying to roll out to the right and connect on a pass near the sideline, but MJ Burks stepped in front and intercepted the pass and returned it down the home sideline 59 yards for a touchdown that extended the Simpson lead to 17-0 with 10:16 left in the opening half.

BVU was forced to go 3-and-out on the next drive, and the Storm took over at their own 36-yard line after a 35-yard punt. The Beavers managed to hold the Storm to a 39-yard field goal with just over two minutes left that made it 20-0 at the half.

Simpson got the ball to begin the second half, and the Beaver defense came up with a big stop yet again, as Drew Volkmann intercepted Jayden Thoreson's pass at the BVU 11-yard line and returned it 21 yards. After a personal foul penalty at the end of the play moved it back to the 17, the Beavers went three-and-out and forced to punt deep into their own territory. A high snap on the attempt went over punter Michael Bae's headed and he couldn't quite chase it down in the endzone before it was recovered for a Simpson touchdown.

The Storm didn't score their first offensive touchdown until 6:09 left in the third quarter on a one-yard touchdown pass that finished an 11-play and 65-yard drive. Later in the quarter, Demarico Young broke free for a 43-yard touchdown that made it 41-0 with 1:40 left.

Both defenses held strong in the fourth quarter. BVU had one final chance to put points on the board after driving down to the Simpson six-yard line but would lose its third fumble of the game four minutes into the fourth quarter. 

Obregon carried the ball 13 times for a season-high 77 yards while Adriel Fussell added 66 yards on 12 carries. As a team, BVU finished with 116 yards on the ground. Garcia was 16-of-30 through the air for 147 yards and the two interceptions. Colton Brant and Dolan Pospichal each hauled in five catches to lead the way with Brant going for 37 yards. Obregon had a team-leading 48 yards receiving on only four grabs, including one that went for 50 yards.

Thoreson completed 16-of-24 passes for 154 yards and one interception for the Storm, which came in averaging nearly 250 yards per game through the air. Cole Staska, who led the A-R-C with over 123 receiving yards per game through Simpson's first three games, was held to only 33 yards on six catches. Noah Cracraft had a game-high 10 catches for 27 yards.

Defensively, junior Brody Boeckman registered a career-high 10 tackles for the Beavers while sophomore Ethan Wiersma and senior Keaton Bindel each tallied five.

Buena Vista is now 1-2 on the year (0-1 A-R-C) and travels to Coe College (2-2, 1-1 A-R-C) next Saturday, Oct. 4, for a 1 p.m. kick-off.