INDIANOLA, Iowa-- The Wartburg football team (2-2 overall, 0-1 IIAC) narrowly fell to Iowa Conference opponent, Simpson (3-1, 1-0) 20-19 Saturday afternoon.

The Knights took the early 6-0 lead as senior Reese Thompson (Van Horne) punched one in from two-yards out with two seconds remaining in the first quarter.

The Orange and Black extended their lead to 12-0 with 7:45 left in the second quarter as freshman Cywettnie Brown (Chicago) hauled in a 30-yard pass from classmate Logan Schrader (Kildeer, Ill.). Newcomer Frank Loconti (Lombard, Ill.) brought the score to 13-0 with his PAT kick after the first one on Thompson's touchdown was blocked.

Simpson scored its first touchdown of the game on a 76-yard pass from Taylor Nelson to Brad Vogel with 6:52 left in the quarter. The score remained 13-6 as the Storm's extra-point kicked was blocked.

This remained the score until Simpson scored with 4:24 left in the fourth quarter to knot the score at 13 all.

The Storm took the lead at 20-13 with 1:42 remaining in the game.

Wartburg compiled one last scoring drive for 83 yards to make the score 20-19 on sophomore Donald Miller's (Maywood, Ill.) five-yard catch from Schrader.

Unfortunately, Loconti's extra point kick was blocked to seal the win for Simpson.

As a team, the Knights' defense held the Storm to negative total yards on the ground (-14).

Brown recorded his first 100-yard game of his career (143) and Thompson led the individual attack on the ground with his 85 yards.

The Orange and Black also held the team advantages in net rushing (163 yards) and total offensive yards (458).

Both teams were unsuccessful in field goal attempts as Wartburg's 32-yard attempt was blocked and Simpson's 37-yard attempt was short.

Seniors Riley Anderson (Dubuque) and Garrett McGrane (Fairbank) led the Knights' defense with eight and seven tackles, respectively.

Wartburg returns to the gridiron next Saturday on the road against Buena Vista at 1 p.m.