INDIANOLA, Iowa – Nebraska Wesleyan's second half comeback came up just short as Simpson College held off the Prairie Wolves 27-21 in the American Rivers Conference football opener on a hot Saturday afternoon (Sept. 15) at Buxton Stadium in Indianola, Iowa.
 
Nolan Schafer caught a 33-yard touchdown pass with 4:50 left in the fourth quarter to pull the Prairie Wolves within six points.  The NWU defense then came up big and stuffed Simpson on a 3^rd down play to give the Prairie Wolves the ball back.
 
With 1:59 left, NWU got the ball at the 20-yard line ready to start the potential game-winning drive.  NWU picked up one first down on a rush by Shaka Taylor, then got past midfield on a terrific catch from Derrick Curtis as he leaped into the air losing his shoe but coming down with the ball.
 
On 3^rd and 10, Braly Keller caught a pass on an arrow route but was kept inbounds just short of the first down marker.  On 4^th and short, the shotgun snap sailed over quarterback Jonathan Curti's head.  Curti scrambled back to recover the ball and threw it downfield towards Bradley Pelkey but a Storm defender knocked the ball away to seal the win.
 
It was a scoring explosion to start the game with both teams getting a pair of touchdowns in the 1^st quarter.  Simpson started the game with a TD on the opening drive with Tanner Krueger finding Austin Hronich for a 15-yard TD reception.
 
The Prairie Wolves responded as they marched down the field and Taylor took the ball in the wildcat formation and raced 35 yards for a TD.  Simpson regained the lead on a 4-yard TD from Cam Bunting but the PAT was blocked making the score 13-7.
 
Taylor got another 30-yard run later in the quarter to get the Prairie Wolves into the redzone where he completed the drive with a 2-yard TD run giving NWU the lead 14-13.
 
Simpson scored two touchdowns in the 2^nd quarter with Bunting getting a pair of rushing TDs to take a 27-14 lead.  The second TD was setup by a muffed punt deep into NWU territory.
 
NWU did have a chance to score late in the half.  Schafer caught a 47-yard pass getting NWU down to the 5-yard line.  Curti found Taylor for an apparent TD pass, but it was nullified by an offensive pass interference call.  Then Jacob Romsa missed a field goal attempt as NWU was kept off the board.
 
On the stat sheet, the two teams were just as close as the final score.  NWU ended with 417 total yards, compared to 416 for Simpson.  The Prairie Wolves ran for 152 yards and had 265 passing yards. 
 
Shaka Taylor finished with 125 rushing yards and two TDs on 19 carries.  It was his 10^th 100-yard performance of his career and he went over 2,000 career yards.  Taylor also caught three passes for 28 yards.
 
Jonathan Curti finished 22-46 for 265 yards with a TD.  His top target was James Skerjanec who caught seven passes for 65 yards.  Nolan Schaffer caught two passes for 76 yards.
 
Jacob Garnas led the NWU defense with 14 total tackles.  Captain Jake Kittle made nine tackles and had an interception.
 
NWU will finally return home next Saturday to host Wartburg College at Abel Stadium.