Simpson Football Gets Their First Win 56-14

By: Spencer McDermott 

The Simpson Football team traveled down to Southern California to take on Whittier College in a week 2 matchup. 

The Red Hawks won the coin toss. They took the ball down 85-yards on the opening drive, capped off by a 3-yard rushing touchdown from D’ante Benjamin.

The Whittier Poets then struggled to do much of anything in the first half on offense. With strong defensive performances by Charlie Walden, Caleb Utter, Kenyon Hawkins, Emre Norcross, and Mike MacNeill, the Red Hawks were able to get right back to work on offense. 

On the final drive before the half-ended quarterback Ya’J Vance threw up a 27-yard pass that freshman receiver Ivan Huerta caught with one hand leaping into the air. The play left the stadium in shock as the Red Hawks confidently went into the locker room up 28-7. 

As the second half began, running back Eli Cortinas took a handoff 70 yards to the endzone on the first offensive snap. From there, the game got out of hand as the Red Hawks rushed for 342 yards on the ground. This helped the team get a huge 56-14 blowout win. 

Interviewing quarterback Ya’J Vance, I asked him what he thought of the game and where he sees things headed for the team. “We are a good team, but we can be better on all cylinders. There is so much to learn from that game, and we need to play to our level and not theirs.”

“As an offense we need to fall in love with the process and hard work and not focus on the successful result we had. We build by knowing that it wasn't good enough, we can always be better even when we are at our best,” Vance said.

With leaders like that it is tough to not get excited about where this football program is going. First year Head Coach Trevor Utter has things headed in a great direction.