St. Bonifacius, MN - The Martin Luther College football team won their second consecutive game on Saturday afternoon in a defensive battle against the Crown Polars by a final score of 13-3.

The Knights entered Old National Bank Stadium coming off of a 31-29 home victory over Greenville last Saturday in which the defensive backfield picked off Peyton Bates on three separate occasions. Saturday, the defense replicated a similar performance, intercepting the UMAC passing leader (Diego Narezo) three times and held Narezo to just 208 yards through the air.

"Crown's passing offense presented a lot of challenges for us coming in, but I thought our defensive coaches did a tremendous job preparing our guys this week," said Head Coach Paul Huebner. The defensive backs played an outstanding game. I thought Jeremiah covered their best receiver well all game long."

Jeremiah Stanton had two interceptions and recorded five tackles, as he created issues for the Crown receiving corps. 

Max Nordlie punched in a five-yard touchdown run in the middle of the first quarter that completed a drive that went 8 plays for 78 yards. From there, the MLC defense stood firm and didn't allow the Polars to get on the scoreboard until a field goal at the 4:50 mark of the third quarter.

The defensive battle would continue well into the fourth quarter, but the Knights would build upon their 7-3 lead and relied on the leg of Micah Koschnitzke, who pushed MLC's lead to 13-3 following a couple of field goals.

Crown would have one final opportunity to stage a miraculous comeback with 2:30 remaining, but Narezo's pass fell incomplete on 4th down and 16 as Silas Steinbrenner broke up the attempt.

The Knights also had to overcome an injury to its leading rusher, Carson Oestreich, who did not appear in Saturday's road contest. " Rees and Zach ran hard in Carson's absence and I think Max read and distributed the ball well," said Huebner.

Zach Ardnt rushed for 105 yards on 16 carries and the offensive line provided a big push up front and created open spaces for Ardnt and Roecker.

Mason Cox led the MLC receivers with five receptions and 121 yards. Freshman Jude Pederson wouldn't have a reception in the game, but made an impact as a blocker.

Thomas Balge led the defense with eight tackles, while David Baumann finished with seven stops. The defense gave up a season-low in points allowed (3) and yards from scrimmage (286).

Up next for MLC (2-5, 2-2) is an away game at Northwestern on Saturday, October 28.