NEW ULM, Minn. - The Martin Luther College football team was unable to finish drives on the way to a 32-0 defeat to Crown on Saturday.

The defense kept the Knights in the game through three quarters, keeping the Storm advantage to 13-0 heading into the final stanza, but Crown was able to wear down the MLC defense and rush for 133 yards and three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

Offensively, the Knights drove into Storm territory seven times, including a pair of drives inside the Crown 10-yard line, but were unable to come away with any points to show for it. The red zone struggles started early, as the Knights drove all the way to the Storm four yard line on their opening drive of the game before turning the ball over on downs.

MLC ran the ball with effectiveness at times during the game, but was unable to generate enough of a threat through the air to keep the defense off balance. Josh Wong led the team with 87 yards rushing on 15 carries, while Nate Stein rushed 24 times for 78 yards.

The Knights struggled in the passing game, as T.J. Babinec was able to complete only six of 19 attempts for 43 yards. He was also sacked four times. Ian Paulsen caught four passes for 15 yards.

Josh VonDeylen led the defense with 11 tackles. Chris Dean, Tom Keller and Yaffett Gabayehu each finished with seven tackles. Nate Lindloff intercepted one pass to go with three tackles. 

MLC fell to 0-3 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 September 24 when they travel to Northwestern. That game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.