Despite a career day for freshman Robert Koranda (Becker, Minn), Crown College forced a fumble near the goal line in the games final minute and defeated UMM 28-21 in Upper Midwest athletic Conference (UMAC) action on October 11th in St. Bonifacius, Minn..
Crown College took a 7-0 lead with 6:30 left in quarter number one, but Minnesota, Morris came back with three straight scores, once late in the first quarter, and single TD's in each the second and third quarters.
Koranda scored his only touchdown of the game on a 14 yard run capping a 9 play 60 yard drive with 1:08 remaining in the opening frame to tie the game at 7-7.
Sophomore quarterback Seth Hubbard (Becker, Minn.) found Nick Laven (Jr. Osakis, Minn.) on a 10 yard scoring pass play that gave UMM a 14-7 lead with 10:40 left in the second quarter. It was a 9 play, 85 yard scoring drive for the Cougars that took 5:20 off the clock.
The score remained 14-7 in favor of the Cougars as the teams headed to the half time break.
Matt Fragodt (Sr. Becker, Minn.) hauled in a three yard pass from Hubbard for career touchdown pass number 24, number one on the Cougar all time career touchdown reception list, with 4:12 to play in the third to put UMM in top 21-7.
The scoring drive took 8:44 of the clock and the Cougars used 17 plays to go 88 yards to reach pay dirt.
Crown cut into the deficit with just three seconds left in the third to make it a 21-14 game heading into the final 15 minutes of action.
The Storm made it a one point game two minutes into the fourth at 21-20, but a missed extra point attempt left the Cougars with a 21-20 lead.
With 4:41 left to go in the fourth, Crown took their second lead of the game at 28-21, following the two point conversion.
On the ensuing possession, the Cougars took over at their own 22 with 4:34 left in the game.
Minnesota, Morris picked up four first downs on the possession and had a first and goal at the Storm three with 1:27 left.
An incomplete pass and an illegal motion penalty set up a second and goal at the Crown nine.
On the next play, Koranda was down near the goal line when the ball popped free and the Storm recovered at the two to end the scoring threat for the Cougars and Crown hung on for the 28-21 win.
Koranda carried the ball 40 times for 239 yards, both career highs. He now has 708 yards rushing on 151 carries in just his first year in a Cougar uniform and is averaging 141.6 yards per game on the ground.
For the game he finished with 357 yards in total offense. As a team UMM had 427 total yards.
Seth Hubbard had his best day at quarterback for the Cougars completing 13 passes on 27 attempts for 169 yards and two touchdown's.
Andrew Shay (Sr. Minneapolis, ,Minn.) led the defense with nine tackles, and one interception.
The Cougars (2-3, 1-2 UMAC) travel to Northwestern College on Saturday, October 25th in UMAC action in a 1:00 kick-off.
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| Minnesota - Morris | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Crown College | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 28 |
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Box Score
