NORTHFIELD — With the deafening roar from the Northfield crowd pulsating throughout the stadium, Owatonna’s Jacob Ginskey took a shotgun snap with his team trailing by one point and just over four minutes left in the fourth quarter.

After side-stepping an initial wave of pressure from his right side, the senior remained composed, kept his gaze fixed down field and spotted his younger brother, Nolan Ginskey, one-on-one against a linebacker.

Bingo.

With plenty of room to operate just outside the pocket, Jacob squared his shoulders and released a high-arching pass toward his streaking target, watching as the ball cut through the night sky and drop directly over Nolan’s shoulder and into his outstretched arms. Two steps later, he was in the end zone and celebrating what ultimately served as the game-winning touchdown in a crucial 26-21 Northstar South-Maroon District victory. On so many levels, Friday’s back-and-forth slugfest between Section 1-5A rivals will go down as the latest compelling chapter in a rivalry supercharged with emotion and laced with spectacular individual efforts and dizzying action between the lines.

The victory extends Owatonna’s winning streak against the Raiders to eight games and gives them a 12-4 edge in the last 16 matchups. The rivalry has grown immensely since the teams were assigned to the same MSHSL District and postseason bracket (Section 1-5A) in 2015. Although Northfield hasn’t won a contest in the series since Oct. 13, 2017, the last three matchups have been decided by a total of 10 points, one of which was a 17-14 Owatonna victory in the Section 1-5A semifinals last year.

Based on how things are shaking out in the section, chances are Friday won’t be the last time these two programs clash this season and could ultimately represent the top two seeds in the five-team field, a point that isn’t lost on the Huskies.

“To see our team fight through everything tonight knowing we will probably see these guys again is huge,” the elder Ginskey said. “It’s great to know we can come out here and get the win against a team like this.”

Jacob Ginskey continued his stellar senior campaign, connecting on 16 of 29 throws for a career-high 338 yards and four touchdowns against just one interception.

Nolan Ginskey — who came into Friday’s action as one of the Class 5A leaders in receptions (24) and yards (289) but had yet to find the end zone — snapped his scoring drought in grand fashion. Not only was he part of the game-deciding connection at the 4:00-mark of the fourth quarter but had scored on receptions of 49 and 50 yards in the first half to help OHS build a 20-7 lead heading into the break. His 206 receiving yards is just 12 yards shy of the single-game school record set by Drew Lundberg in 2005 while his 11 receptions are three short of Lundberg’s high mark.

The talented junior also picked off a pass and set up the game-winning drive with a 21-yard punt return to the Northfield 45.

“They are a man-to-man team and we wanted to see what we could do with some mismatches,” said Nolan Ginskey. “And the coaches drew up an almost perfect gameplan and we executed. We some made some game-time adjustments and found a way to get it done.”

Caleb Hullopeter caught three passes for 85 yards and scored his fifth touchdown of the season on a 27-yard reception in the second quarter to give Owatonna its first lead of the game. Owen Beyer added a pair of critical catches for a total of 47 yards, leaping high in the air and cradling a perfectly-spun fade from Ginskey from 28 yards out on the Huskies’ second scoring drive.

“I can’t put into words how much fun it is to be out there with those guys,” Nolan Ginskey said of his talented receiver corps. “If one guy gets shut down, we have three other guys we can bank on and Jacob finds the right guy and makes the right reads.”

Just prior to the final Ginskey-to-Ginskey fourth quarter connection, the pendulum of momentum had swung squarely in the Raiders’ favor after they forced back-to-back turnovers in the middle of the third quarter and instantly transformed them into 14 points.

Explosive senior wingback Kamden Kaiser accounted for all three all Northfield’s touchdowns and racked up 185 yards of total offense on 16 touches, giving his team its final lead of the game with 5 minutes, 48 seconds remaining in the third quarter when he knifed through the OHS defense on a fly route out of the backfield and tracked down a 55-yard bomb from Seth Thompson.

Roughly two minutes prior, the hyper-talented Kaiser — who is originally from Medford and has several personal ties to Owatonna — picked off a pass deep in OHS territory and took the first carry of the ensuing drive around the right edge and down the sideline for a 15-yard touchdown.

The stunning turn of events rejuvenated Northfield’s crowd and reinvigorated the home sideline. Meanwhile, the silence that permeated the other side of the field was just as deafening. In a showdown filled with extreme peaks and valleys, this was the low point for the Huskies.

But there was no time to sulk.

As harsh as the previous six minutes had been, there was still nearly a quarter-and-a-half remaining in the game and Northfield was only ahead by a single point, 21-20. According to their quarterback and senior captain, the Huskies didn’t sulk or make excuses.

Instead, they went back to work.

“We didn’t really hang our heads,” Nolan Ginskey said. “We knew we needed to come back out there and fight back, and that’s what we did.”

Though it was the offensive numbers that will stand near the top of the single-game record books, Owatonna’s defense played an equally significant role in helping the Huskies gain the inside track in the sprint for the top seed in Section 1-5A.

Owatonna (3-1 overall, 2-0 Northstar South-Maroon) permitted just one first down over Northfield’s final four possessions and netted just nine total yards in the span, its final salvo snuffed out by Rielly Kleeberger when the senior defensive back swatted away a fourth down pass at the 1:47-mark on the final play of the Huskies’ final defensive stand.

Owatonna took over on downs and and Brennan Sletten punctuated the memorable night by knifing through the Raiders’ defense for a 12-yard run on second down before a pair of kneel-downs officially ended it.

Sletten finished with 62 yards on 11 carries, signifying the first tie an OHS ball-carrier has averaged more than 4.0 yards per carry with at least 10 rushes in a single game. Jacob Ginskey scampered for a few huge first downs in the first half and added 37 yards on nine rushes.

As well as the Huskies persevered in a hostile environment and executed during high stakes moments, it was far from a flawless effort.

Owatonna received the opening kickoff and promptly sent its punt unit onto the field after a short run and consecutive incomplete passes. Unfortunately, the snap was botched and punter Joey Pirkl was unable to get a foot on the ball and was was unable to escape the oncoming rush.

Northfield took over in prime position at the OHS 20-yard line and grabbed a 6-0 lead at 7:57 when Kaiser glided into the end zone untouched from four yards our after taking an option feed from Thompson from.

The Huskies once again went three-and-out on their second possession and dropped three total passes in the first quarter alone

“We really couldn’t have played much worse to start the game,” admitted Nolan Ginskey.

Owatonna’s struggles in the red zone also persisted against the Raiders as its only trip inside the Northfield ended with a missed field goal.

The Huskies are now 4-for-12 inside the red zone this season and have not scored a touchdown in their last eight trips.

After Jacob Ginskey escaped for a 12-yard gain to the NHS 10-yard line late in the third quarter, Owatonna’s next three plays before sending out the field goal unit included a 0 yard run, an incomplete pass and a 5-yard run.

UP NEXT

OWATONNA (3-1, 2-0): The Huskies host Rochester Century (1-3, 0-1) on Friday, Sept. 29 for homecoming. The Panthers allowed another six touchdowns in Week 4 and lost 45-6 to a New Prague team the Huskies defeated in Week 3. In its three losses this season, Century is allowing 51.6 points per game.

NORTHFIELD (2-2, 1-1): The Raiders jump out of district play and host Chaska (2-2) in Week 5. The former Missota Conference counterparts last played 10 years ago during the 2013 season.

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