With a pair of stifling defenses, points were expected to be at a premium between St. Agnes and St. Croix Lutheran on Friday night at TCO Stadium in Eagan.

That proved to be the case much of the night, but the Aggies did just enough more offensively.

Bennett Bamsey and Nick Brownell had rushing touchdowns, Johan Finne had a pick-6 and St. Agnes beat St. Croix Lutheran 21-0.

St. Agnes (5-2) — a Class 2A school — allows an average of 12 points per game, but if you take out losses to Class 4A Hill-Murray and Class 3A Holy Family, that drops to 3.8, including three shutouts.

It’s not as though the Class 3A Crusaders haven’t had offensive success.

St. Croix Lutheran (5-2) entered the game averaging 29 points per contest and had scored at least 34 points in winning its previous three games. But offensive flow was something they could not find. The Crusaders finished with fewer than 50 yards of total offense.

St. Agnes and its ground-and-pound offense had just seven plays of double-digit yardage. Two of those came on a 17-play drive that consumed more than 10 1/2 minutes of the third quarter but resulted in no points.

After a three-and-out by the Crusaders, Brownell scored from the 10-yard line for a 14-0 lead. One play earlier, the senior went 20 yards on 3rd and 5.

Finne returned a interception 32 yards to the house five plays later for the Aggies.

Bamsey ran the ball in from the 12 on the opening Aggies’ drive to cap an 11-play trek. The score came two plays after a 10-yard pass from Joshua Lopez to Daniel Plamann on fourth down.

An Avery interception — he finished with two — set up St. Croix Lutheran at the St. Agnes 10 early in the second quarter. However, the Crusaders came up empty-handed as Kevin Le made a fourth-down stop of Avery, who doubles as a quarterback.

The Aggies, home to 3-3 Brooklyn Center on Wednesday, remain in position for a home playoff game in Class 2A, Section 4.

St. Croix Lutheran remains in the hunt to get a home playoff game when the Class 3A, Section 4 play begins Oct. 22. The Crusaders finish the regular season at winless Twin Cities Charter Wednesday.

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