Central hosts Simpson today for its homecoming football game as Central Iowa’s two Division III rivals square off for the 103rd time.

Both teams earned convincing victories a week ago, with Simpson clobbering Loras 66-14 to improve to 2-2 overall and Central shutting out Buena Vista 52-0 to move to 3-1. Both teams are 1-1 in the American Rivers Conference.

In addition to the dominating defensive performance, the Dutch turned to the running game to lead the way on offense. Central rushed for 327 yards against BV, led by sophomore Jase Grunder’s 190 – the most by a Dutch player since 2013.

“We want to continue to be as balanced as we possibly can”, said Central coach Jeff McMartin. “Balanced has never been 50 plays of running and 50 plays of passing in my world. It’s been the ability to do both well and we have to continue to work to do both well.”

Central has won the last 10 meetings and Simpson hasn’t won at Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium since 2012.

Simpson is featuring a defense that is giving up less than 20 points per game while the offense is scoring 38 points per contest and has five interceptions in the two conference contests so far. Storm head coach Reed Hoskins tells KNIA Sports the Storm will have to try and win the line of scrimmage against a tough Central offensive and defensive line in order to have a balanced offense and create pressure on defense.

Kickoff is at 1pm today in Pella. Trevor Castle and George Wares will call the action live on 92.1 KRLS and the Central Dutch Network, while Andrew Swadner will provide the Simpson perspective on 94.3 KNIA. Pregame starts on all platforms at 12:35.