Crown Football’s Historical Season in Review

Written by Casey Reeves

The Crown football team played their last football game of the 2007 season this past Saturday, November 3, 2007. For the Storm it was a journey that saw many ups and downs, but also some key firsts. The season started on the road in Illinois with a dominating victory over Principia College 46-3. The game was a great start for the Storm, and it was followed with a convincing 33-13 victory over rival Maranatha Baptist. The Storm relished the victory as it avenged two ugly losses in 2006. Crown had themselves a 2-0 start, and a key match up with Martin Luther. Martin Luther dominated the game with their option attack, and eventually overcame an early Storm lead for a 36-13 win. After the MLC game Crown traveled to Illinois once again. This time they would be Blackburn College homecoming guests’. The Battlin’ Beavers jumped out to a 27-7 lead in the 2nd quarter. Crown would come back to win 40-33. The game would prove to be one of the biggest accomplishments of the 2007 season. In game five Crown traveled to North Dakota to take on the Trinity Bible Lions. The Storm exploded out to a 28-0 lead, before coasting to a 48-34 victory. Crown was 4-1 heading into a much anticipated match-up with Northwestern College.  The game would be held at Minnetonka High School on a crisp Saturday evening. The Storm put together a gallant first half effort, but Northwestern scored on six of their first seven possessions, sending Crown to a 42-14 defeat. The next week Crown traveled to UM-Morris to take on the defending 2006 UMAC champions. The Storm played their best team game of the season, and cruised to a 44-28 win. The victory clinched the first ever winning season for the Storm in the 24 year existence of the program. Unfortunately, the season would not end that well for Crown. In the eighth game, the Storm would take a late 35-34 lead in the Metrodome over Blackburn College. Blackburn would score with 9 seconds left on a 50 plus yard half-back pass and tack on the two-point conversion making the final 42-35. In the final game against Macalester the offenses went wild for both teams, and Macalester came out on top 62-42. The Storm finished the season with a 5-4 overall record and were 4-3 in the UMAC.

Crown had many great personal and team accomplishments along the road to their first ever winning season. The all time Storm record for points had stood at 241 points before the 2007 season. Crown rolled up 315 points in 2007, shattering the old mark, while averaging 35 points a game. Lemone Johnson (Jr. Boston, MA) rushed for nearly 100 yards a game finishing with 897 yards, 8 touchdowns, and a 5.5 yards per carry average. Matt Bremer (Sr. Corvallis, OR) had himself a solid year in his final campaign. He was 134 of 256 passing for 1863 yards, with 18 touchdowns to 9 interceptions setting school records for passing yards in a season (1863), and career passing yards (4847). Bremer also rushed for 671 yards, and 12 touchdowns. Matt led all scorers with 74 points . Drew Milner (So. Sheridan, WY) led all receivers in receptions, yards, and touchdowns. He had 48 catches, for 810 yards, 10 touchdowns. The 10 receiving touchdowns broke the old Crown record of 8. Brian Swanson (Sr. Maple Grove, MN) was a defensive leader for the Storm. He recorded 32 solo tackles, 68 assisted tackles, 6 of which were for a loss, and he recovered 2 fumbles on his way to becoming the school’s All-Time leading tackler.

The Storm boasted the largest offensive line in the UMAC in 2007, averaging 6’3.5” and 299 pounds up front. The Storm allowed just 3 sacks all year, led by Center Casey Reeves (Jr. North Bend, OR), Left Guard Josh Prokosch (Jr. Brooklyn Park, MN), and Tight End Clayton Taylor (Sr. Camanche, IA) all were rewarded with 1st Team All-Conference Honors. All five offensive line starters are projected to return in 2008. Nine offensive starters return along with five defensive members. The Storm head into the off-season with a desire to build upon the successes of the 2007 season.