St. Bonifacius, Minn. – Crown football defeated Finlandia 19-13 on Saturday behind 188 yards on the ground and some timely stops from the defense.  It marked the first time this season that Crown gained more yards on the ground than through the air and led to an extremely balanced game that saw little separation between the two teams.

Crown held an advantage in total offense and time of possession, but by only a single yard and two seconds as the visiting Lions and the Storm proved to be a very equal match.

Avory Caruthers led the rushing attack for the Storm, gaining 96 yards and scoring a touchdown while fellow back Josh Wallace contributed 77 yards and a touchdown of his own.

The Crown passing attack struggled to find a rhythm for most of the game and the Storm even turned to first-year Brian Jerald at quarterback for a bit in the middle of the game to try to jump start things.  Jerald performed well in relief of Jared Gilmore, completing all seven of his pass attempts for 68 yards and a touchdown to Terry Warner near the very end of the first half.

The aforementioned Warner led all Crown receivers with six catches for 83 yards and the touchdown while the normally explosive Cole Mistretta was held to just two catches for 31 yards.  Five other receivers recorded at least one catch on the afternoon.

Defensively, Crown was led by first year defensive end Noe Urrea who had a monster game recording 12 tackles, three tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and a forced fumble.  Josef Pennella also hit double-digits with ten tackles and Rudy Criner showed off his big play ability yet again with another interception.  Quis Icon added eight stops and two fumble recoveries to go with half a sack.
It was a quiet first quarter with neither team gaining much of a foothold in the game.  Crown had a drive into Finlandia territory end with a turnover on downs and the Lions had a drive stall out with one of Icon's fumble recoveries, but the score was 0-0 after the first.

Finlandia struck first, jumping out to an 8-0 lead after a 27 yard touchdown pass and two-point conversion just under three minutes into the second period. 

Crown responded immediately, marching 71 yards in nine plays on the ensuing drive, capping things with a Caruthers TD run and an extra point from Jonah Osborne.  The Storm were aided by a personal foul penalty against Finlandia, but only faced a single third down on the entire drive. 

The Storm defense came up with a big stop on the next drive as Icon and Jesse Synoground came up with a big stop on fourth down with the Storm on the edge of their own red zone. 
Crown drove deep into FU territory once more, but Gilmore was intercepted at the three with just 1:54 remaining in the half.

Head Coach Anthony Franz then managed the end of half clock to perfection, trusting his defense to get a stop and using two timeouts to stop the clock as Finlandia was forced to punt from deep in their own territory.  A 17 yard punt return from Criner set the Storm up in excellent field position with just 23 yards to go for a touchdown before halftime.

Jerald connected with Mistretta and then found Warner for the touchdown with 19 second remaining.  Osborne's initial point after was good, but a holding call forced another try and this one was no good, with Crown heading into halftime staked to a 13-8 lead. 

Crown's defense held firm again early in the third, stopping Finlandia on a crucial fourth down at the Storm ten yard line, but the Lions would break through on their first drive of the fourth to pull ahead 14-13.

The Storm answered back immediately, with Wallace doing the heavy lifting.  The running back ripped off gains of 18 and 15 yards, which alternated with a pair of completions from Gilmore to Warner and then rumbled 14 yards for a Crown touchdown as the hosts took the lead back at 19-13. 

It was now the defense's turn to make the lead stick and they came up with big plays when they mattered most.  Criner intercepted a pass on a huge third down to stop one drive, while Urrea recorded a sack on third down to stall another Lion drive. 

After a missed field goal and a fumble deep in Finlandia territory prevented Crown from adding to their lead, the Storm defense had one final stop to make to seal the victory.

Taking over with 2:45 remaining and a chance to win the game, Finlandia drove to the Crown 19, but back to back stops by Urrea and Icon, including a shared sack, set up a fourth down that the Lions couldn't convert.  Gilmore took a knee in the victory formation and Crown celebrated a first win of the season.

Crown travels to Greenville, Illinois next week for a matchup with the Panthers who currently top the UMAC standings at 5-2 overall and 3-0 in conference play.  Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.