St. Bonifacius, Minn. – The Crown football team dominated time of possession and went plus three in the turnover battle to beat Greenville College 22-14 on Saturday. The Storm improve to 3-3 overall and 3-2 in UMAC play.
Crown nearly doubled up the Panthers in time of possession, controlling the clock for 37:22 and recovered three fumbles while playing turnover free football. Neither team could get much momentum going offensively, with Crown outgaining Greenville by two yards, 272 to 270, but mistakes continued to hurt the visitors as they committed 13 penalties for 125 yards.
Greenville got the scoring started on a short touchdown run in the first quarter. The action was back and forth with neither team gaining much of an advantage until the six play, 50 yard scoring drive.
Crown answered back with a long, sustained drive in the second quarter.
Josh Edlund capped a 15 play, 69 yard drive with a two yard touchdown run.
Chad Anenson's point after was wide right, leaving Crown trailing by one, 7-6.
Late in the second quarter, Crown was stopped on a fourth and short, but
Tyler Byrd forced a fumble on a sack and
Alex Banks pounced on his second fumble recovery of the day to give Crown the ball back on the Greenville 14 with under a minute to go in the half.
Brandon McCormick wasted no time, hitting
Ben Olson on a fade route for the go ahead touchdown. The two-point conversion failed, and Crown led 12-7 at the half.
Crown took the opening kickoff of the second half on a 16 play, 80 yard drive, stealing away 7:40 of the 3
rd quarter and finishing the drive off with an Anenson 22 yard field goal.
McCormick finished off the scoring for Crown on a 26 yard TD scamper that saw the QB go untouched into the end zone on a great power read play.
McCormick led the way offensively, throwing for 181 yards and a touchdown on an efficient 18-28. The senior added 19 yards on the ground to go with his touchdown.
Terrell Thomas had a team high 67 yards on five catches, while
Ben Olson had 53 yards on five receptions and
Trey Peace added six catches for 49 yards.
The Crown defense was phenomenal, allowing just 145 yards on the ground to a Panther team that had 312 rushing yards last week.
Byrd led the charge from his defensive end spot, recording eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, the forced fumble, and two passes broken up. Fellow freshman Banks, making his first start of the season, contributed three tackles, half a tackle for loss, two fumble recoveries, a pass breakup, and two quarterback hurries.
The win moves Crown into the top half of the UMAC as the Storm have won three of four as they prepare to travel to Morris, Minnesota to take on the Cougars next Saturday.
