After a bumpy second quarter that led to a precarious halftime lead, the Owatonna football team didn’t need a lecture from its head coach to turn things around against Rochester John Marshall on Saturday night.

The Huskies didn’t need to find the secret sauce and didn’t need to drastically change their game plan.

They just needed to play better.

“I think the vibe (at halftime) was we should be up way more than we were,” Owatonna senior Torrin Smith said of his team that led just 13-7 at intermission. “We weren’t playing our game — we are way better than we displayed. We just needed to make a few small adjustments and bounce back.”

Owatonna didn’t just bounce back, they roared back.

The Huskies’ starters didn’t permit a single first down the game’s final 24 minutes, scored three unanswered touchdowns and ran away with a one-sided 33-7 victory at Federated Field on Saturday night in the Section 1-5A semifinal contest.

“This one feels really good,” Owatonna senior Jack Strom said moments after the game. “As seniors, we always know every game could be our last. But we knew if we played well — if we played our game — we were going to come out with the win. It feels really good to win on our home field.”

The victory secures the Huskies’ seventh consecutive berth in the section title game and sets up a rematch with second-seeded Northfield (6-3 overall) on Friday evening at 7 p.m. in Owatonna. The Raiders drilled a field goal late in the fourth quarter to upend No. 3 New Prague, 24-21, on Saturday night.

Owatonna (7-2) needed some late-game heroics of its own in its regular season showdown against the Raiders, scoring the game-winning touchdown with roughly 4:00 left in the fourth quarter on a deep Jacob Ginskey-to-Nolan Ginskey connection in a 26-21 victory at Memorial Field in Northfield.

On Saturday against John Marshall (4-6), Brennan Sletten scored three of his career-high four touchdowns in the second half and rang up 57 of his team-best 89 rushing yards in the span. His 8-yard run with 4 minutes, 6 seconds remaining in the third quarter handed OHS a 26-7 lead and all-but clinched the victory after the Rockets failed to convert on 4^th-and-1 from their own 29 yard line only moments prior.

Jacob Ginskey had two long touchdown passes to his brother called back on the same possession in the second quarter due to a pair of ineligible receiver downfield penalties, but still completed 15 of 22 passes for a season-high 68% completion rate. He finished with 231 yards, one touchdown and threw just his third interception of the season less and a minute before halftime.

Owatonna also lost a fumble in the second quarter and was whistled for four penalties for 40 yards.

“We wanted to make sure it wasn’t a deer in headlights type of situation,” said OHS head coach Jeff Williams. “And it wasn’t. We came out in the third quarter and got a beautiful stop. (John Marshall) went backwards, backwards, backwards on that first drive…We played most of the third quarter in their end, and that obviously turned the tide.”

The Huskies — who improved to 5-0 at home this season — started all-but one of their offensive possessions in the second half deep in Rockets’ territory.

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On the second snap of the game, Nolan Ginskey snatched a short pass across the middle, sprinted toward daylight on the right sideline and dashed 74 yards to pay dirt to give Owatonna an early 6-0 lead. The junior dynamo led all receivers with 158 yards on seven catches and now stands just 125 yards shy of becoming the first player in program history to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a single season.

Seeing his role increase due to the absence of star receiver Caleb Hullopeter (concussion), Strom — who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs roughly 220 pounds — hauled-in a career-high four catches for 44 yards.

“When you have as many playmakers as we do, it’s hard to lock down on one player,” Strom said. “When the chances comes for me to catch the ball, I just have to be there to make the play.”

Defensively, Owatonna’s starters held John Marshall to negative yardage on its five offensive possessions in the second half and rang up nine total sacks for the game. Linebacker Mitch Seykora led the charge with 2.0 sacks while Strom, Smith, Oran Dowling each collected at least one QB takedown. Jamie Lisowksi paced the Huskies with seven tackles.

Counting the sacks, the Huskies held the Rockets to -15 rushing yards for the game and permitted just one run greater three yards.

John Marshall’s lone touchdown came at the 7:56-mark of the second quarter on a 53-yard catch-and-run by Darius Jordan on a pass that was swatted into his hands 30 yards down field by Owatonna defensive back Owen Beyer.

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PHOTOS BY GARY WALTER

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CLASS AAAAA SEMIFINAL RESULTS

Saturday, October 29, 2023