Athletic News

Saint Bonifacius, Minn - On the final home game of the 2009 football season the Storm thanked five seniors for their contributions to the recent success of the football program before the game and got ready to take on a very tough Martin Luther football team.

After a 3 and out for the Storm offense to open the game the Knights would take over at their own 20 and in typical Martin Luther fashion they would march 80 yards on 11 plays, including a 28 yard run by Aaron Voss, would score the games first touchdown and a fake PAT would result in a two point conversion for the Knights putting them up 8-0.

The Storm offense would answer on the very next drive as the Storm would start at their own 47 would go 53 yards on 12 plays when Adam Hayes (Chinook, Mont.) would find wide receiver Steve Boger (Cokato, Minn) for an 8 yard touchdown pass.  The PAT by Matt Polding (Waconia, Minn) would get the Storm within 8-7.  This would prove to be the closest the Storm would get all game as the Knights would open up the second quarter with a 6 play 69 yard scoring drive that was capped with an 8 yard pass from quarterback Greg Holzhueter to Ryan Kolander to extend the Martin Luther lead to 15-7.  A Crown punt on the next possession would give the balll back deep in Martin Luther territory.  Starting at their own 13 the Knights would march 87 yards on 8 plays and eat up more than 4 minutes of clock in extending their lead to 22-7 on a 3 yard rushing touchdown by Andrew Becker.

After a 9 yard completion to Steve Boger by Hayes put the Storm at the Martin Luther 47 yard line the Knight defense came up with a forced fumble when freshman back Tyler Hallblade rushed to the Knights 38 and coughed the ball up and setting the stage for the Knights third touchdown of the second quarter making the score 28-7 after a failed PAT attempt by the Knights.

As the second quarter was coming to an end the Storm offense was able to get a touchdown with less than 30 seconds remaining on the clock with Hayes would find Eric Chavoustie on a 24 yard touchdown pass cutting the Martin Luther lead to 28-14 at the half.

Martin Luther would waste no time in extending their lead as they would take the opening drive of the third quarter 70 yards on 5 plays and score on a 51 yard pass from Holzhueter to Kolander making it 34-14 just 2:30 into the third quarter. 

On the very first play from scrimmage for the Storm offense Hayes would be intercepted by Joe Lindloff setting up a 7 play 74 yard scoring drive for the Knights when Andrew Becker would rush 25 yards to score the touchdown making it 40-14.

The Storm offense would not quit in this game as they would put together their third scoring drive of the game midway through the third quarter finishing off a 7 play 61 yard drive with a 1 yard run by quarterback Hayes and cutting the score to 40-21.

The Storm defense would get their first stop of the afternoon on the next possession as they would force the Knights into a three and out punt.  The third quarter would end with another punt by the Storm putting the ball back in the hands of the Knights to start the fourth quarter.  The fourth quarter would start much like the third ended with Crown getting their second consecutive defensive stop of the afternoon forcing the second punt by the Knights.  This time the Storm offense would use the defensive stop as motivation to cut into the lead once more as Hayes would connect with Steve Boger again on an 18 yard pass making the score 40-28 after a Polding point after attempt was good.

The Knights would not be stopped a third time in a row as they would strike quickly on the next possession with Holzhueter would find Kolander for his third touchdown score of the game a 59 yarder putting the Knights back up big at 47-28.  After a Crown punt the Knights would add their final score of the day when Andrew Becker would rush for his third touchdown of the afternoon a 3 yard run capping off a 4 play 85 yard drive making the score 53-28.

The Storm offense would continue to do their part in keeping things interesting as they would score their 5th touchdown of the afternoon when Hayes would find Chavoustie on an 18 yard pass play making the score 53-35.

This is where the score would end as time expired on the clock.  For the Knights they would rack up 655 yards of total offense including 154 yards rushing from Aaron Voss on 15 carries and Andrew Becker would score three touchdowns and rush for 97 yards.  Quarterback Holzhueter would rush 14 times for 96 yards.

For the Storm offensively Adam Hayes would finish 22-35 for 240 yards and 4 touchdowns with his favoritie receiver being Steve Boger who would catch 11 passes for 124 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Running back Tyler Hallblade would rush 15 times for 70 yards. 

Defensively the Storm were led by linebacker Mark Shea (Newton, Iowa) who would have 8 solo tackles including 1 for a loss and safety Brandon Green who would have six tackles and a sack on the afternoon.

The Storm are off on their longest road trip of the season as they travel to Portland, Oregon this week to take on Lewis and Clark University on Saturday afternoon.