St. Bonifacius, Minn. — It was Crown's 2017 Homecoming and senior night at Crown College this past Saturday, with the Martin Luther Knights coming to KleinBank Stadium to face the Storm. Despite a late comeback by the Storm including 28 fourth-quarter points, Crown fell to the Knights 28-44.

The Storm held with the Knights early in the game, with no points scored in the first quarter by either team. After a big second quarter, Martin Luther jumped to a 21-0 halftime lead, compiling to a 34-0 lead at the end of the three quarters. But in the fourth quarter, Crown started to show signs of life after a 59-yard touchdown run by Chris Simpson. With senior quarterback Taylor Watkins in for one final drive in St. Boni the next Crown possession, he found David McIntosh for a six-yard score. Fellow senior Ryan Synoground found Robel Ezana for a two-point conversion to cap it off. After a recovered onside kick, first-year Luke Lithander re-entered the game on the ensuing possession and found Anthony Laureno for a 30-yard touchdown. The next Crown drive, Lithander found Laureno again for a six-yard touchdown. Unfortunately, it was too little too late for the Storm; despite 28 fourth-quarter points, the Storm fell to the Knights 28-44. 

Lithander led the Crown passing attack throwing 16 completions out of 33 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Simpson only rushed the ball three times but was their leading rusher with 81 yards, an impressive 27-yards an attempt.  Sophomore David Mcintosh led the Crown receivers with over 100 yards in the game and a touchdown.

Defensively, Crown was led by Dasean Riley, who had eleven tackles and a pass-breakup. Cody Rickets also had a great game with 1.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble along with his eight tackles. Jeremiah Jones had another game gathering tackles with double-digit tackles once again.

Crown has one game left this season, an away game against Northwestern in Roseville.