St. Bonifacius, Minn. – The Crown football team hosted Minnesota Morris on Saturday on a beautiful afternoon that marked Crown's homecoming celebration for 2021. The Storm came up just short in the third game of the season, falling to the Cougars 24-18.

The Cougars opened up a 14-0 advantage behind a 14 yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter and a 59 yard TD through the air early in the second period.

Crown would hit back with an 11 play, 66 yard drive later in the quarter, capped by a tough touchdown run from Josh Wallace. The Crown back broke multiple tackles before lunging across the goal line dragging a Morris defender with him. The two-point conversion failed, and the score remained 14-6 heading into halftime.

Crown struck first in the second half when Jared Gilmore found Terry Warner with a 48 yard touchdown pass. That score brought the game to 14-12.

The Cougars responded immediately with an eight play, 65 yard touchdown drive of their own, jumping back out to a 21-12 lead.

The Storm continued the back-and-forth nature of the game with a nine play, 70 yard touchdown drive to open the fourth quarter, this one finished off by Avory Caruthers with a two yard touchdown run. The Storm struggled with point after attempts/two point conversions, and again missed the opportunity to tack on points, making the deficit three points at 21-18.

The visitors added a 34 yard field goal with just over three and a half minutes remaining in the game, giving Crown a chance to even the score with a touchdown and win if they could get seven points on their final drive.

The comeback was not to be, however, and the Cougars were able to run out the clock to secure their first win of the season.

Gilmore finished the game with 233 yards passing on the day, with 111 of those yards going to Warner. The defense was led by Rudy Criner with 12 tackles and Quis Icon with 7 tackles and a sack. 

The Storm return to action next Saturday as they travel to former UMAC member Iowa Wesleyan for a 1pm kickoff.