ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. - The Martin Luther College football team was unable to come all the way back from an early 25-point deficit in a 43-33 loss at Crown on Saturday.

The Storm offense was explosive to start the game, scoring on its first two plays (a 64-yard pass and a 64-yard run), but the Knights hung around thanks to a Matt Olson touchdown pass to Josh Rathje from ten yards out to keep the deficit at 13-6.

Crown pushed its lead to 25-6  in the second quarter, and then went into the half with even more momentum thanks to a fourth-down stop of Olson at the Storm one-yard line right before the break.

The Storm scored to make it 31-6 to open the third quarter, but the Knights wouldn't go away.

T.J. Babinec scored on a 12-yard run on the following possession, and Olson scored from one-yard out later in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 31-20.

Crown scored at the end of the third quarter to push its lead back to 37-20, but MLC responded with a four-yard touchdown run from Tim Keller, followed by a 28-yard touchdown reception by Josh Arndt to make it a one-possession game at 37-33.

The defense needed to get one more stop to give the offense a chance to take the lead, but the Storm executed a 12-play, 66-yard drive that chewed eight minutes off the clock to ice the game away. Crown was able to convert two fourth-down conversions on the drive, which ended with an 11-yard Matt Michaud touchdown run to give the Storm the final ten-point margin.

MLC finished the game with 491 total yards (255 rushing and 236 passing), and out-gained Crown (451 total yards) on the day.

Olson finished with 236 yards passing, and completed 13 of 23 attempts. He also carried the ball 17 times for 86 yards and one score.

Keller finished with 107 yards and one score on 21 carries, while Arndt led the Knights with five receptions and 125 yards receiving. Rathje added 75 yards receiving on his four catches.

Josh VonDeylen led the team with ten total tackles. Ben Ewings finished with one sack.

MLC fell to 1-2 on the season and 0-2 in UMAC play in defeat. Crown improved to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in league play with the win.

The Knights will return to action on Saturday, September 26, when they host Northwestern in the Homecoming game.