INDIANOLA, Iowa - The University of Dubuque football team dropped the American Rivers Conference tilt on Saturday to the host Simpson College Storm 27-7. The Spartans finished with 85 offensive plays and held Simpson to 63 plays. Unfortunately, the Spartans were 1-5 inside the red zone against a daunting Storm defense which stopped UD on the Storm one yard line, the 17 yard line and the 40 yard line.

UD gained 22 first downs and and were held to 32 yards of rushing offense, most of that was offset by six quarterback sacks in the loss. The Spartans passed for 314 yards through the air after Joey Rhomberg completed 36-58 pass attempts for an average of 5.4 yards per attempt and 8.7 yards per completion. Isaiah Martinez rushed 13 times for 35 yards for an average of 2.7 yards a carry and caught UD's lone touchdown on a three yard pass from Rhomberg at 8:05 in the fourth quarter. Wide receiver Kali Freeman was targeted 17 times and caught 11 passes for 105 yards and returned two kickoffs for 43 yards. Dave Matthews returned one kickoff for 19 yards.

Brady Buchmann punted six times for  231 yards (38.5 avg.), Etwood Williams returned a trio of punts for 29 yards. Bennett Harp kicked off twice for 97 yards (48.5 avg.). UD's defensive was dominated by Tristen Villanueva who finished the day with 11 solo tackles and an assisted tackle. Mike Westbrooks ended the afternoon with seven tackles including two for a loss of 10 yards.

The Spartans (3-5 overall, 3-3 in A-R-C) return home to the friendly confines of Chalmers Field for their final home game of the year when they host the Coe College Kohawks (5-2 overall, 4-1 in A-R-C) at 1:00 p.m. on Nov. 1. The Kohawks won over the Luther College Norse on Oct. 25 by a final score of 42-21.