(FINDLAY, Ohio) — On a chilly Saturday afternoon, the Lake Erie football team lost on the road to Findlay, 51-14. The defeat moves the Storm to 0-2 on the abridged 2020-21 season, while Findlay improves to 4-1 on the year.

The scoring was first initiated by the Oilers, when running back Bryan Benson capped off a nine-play 53-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown rush in the first quarter. But in the end, Benson would only finish with the third-most rushing yards out of all Findlay running backs in the game, as fellow backs Garret Clark and Derek Lynch finished with 104 yards and 75 yards, respectively. Clark would also pick up two touchdowns himself, each in the third quarter.

Findlay topped Lake Erie in the rushing department, with Storm backs only picking up 21 total yards on the ground. However, what the Storm lacked in rushing it made up for through the air. Redshirt-sophomore quarterback Gerald Gardner completed 16 of 31 pass attempts in the game, throwing for 189 yards and two touchdowns. Gardner's longest completion of the day came at the end of the third quarter, when he connected with senior wide receiver Eric Daniels to put the ball at the Findlay 10.

But while Oilers quarterback Matt Winzeler may have accumulated slightly less passing yards than Lake Erie's Gardner, only finishing with 178, he excelled in efficiency with his passes. Winzeler only had seven incompletions out of 24 attempts in the game, and three of his completions were for touchdowns. He also didn't throw any interceptions, while Gardner threw four for the Storm (although Winzeler did lose a fumble). And as Lake Erie attempted to battle back from an early deficit, turning the ball over to the other team through the air four times was simply too much to overcome.

On the defensive side of the ball, Lake Erie had two players pick up sacks in the game: redshirt-sophomore Lawrence Chambers III, and redshirt-junior Zach Rodman. Freshman Cameren Grodhaus also had a tackle for loss. But where the Storm had three total tackles in the backfield, Findlay had seven, which further strained Lake Erie's ability to mount a comeback.

In terms of team stats, Findlay also played better in most of those categories as well. The Oilers had 26 first downs to the Storm's 12. They were 57 percent successful on third down attempts, while the Storm were 27 percent successful. And on fourth down attempts, Findlay converted on two of two attempts, while Lake Erie did on just one of three. Furthermore, the Oilers doubled up the Storm in total offensive yards, picking up 428 to Lake Erie's 209. They also held the ball for 34:14, compared to Lake Erie's 25:46. However, Lake Erie did have more total return yards, 200 to 139, and had less penalties as well, two to three.

But in the end, Findlay just had too many talented offensive and defensive players making big plays for Lake Erie to win, and the Oilers topped the Storm, 51-14.

Now, as uncertainty remains pertaining to the three previously postponed games on Lake Erie's schedule due to COVID-19 restrictions and whether or not those can be made up, the Storm leave Findlay with only one game left on their original schedule: at home on Saturday, April 24, against Kentucky Wesleyan. That game is set to kick off at 1:00 p.m. EST.