Owatonna’s Blake Fitcher always seems to find himself in the right place at the right time during the biggest moments.

And it’s not by accident.

Take Friday, for example.

With his team engaged in a spirited and increasingly-volatile clash against Chanhassen as the fourth quarter got underway, Fitcher knew exactly where he needed to be. As the Storm approached the line of scrimmage and began spreading into position prior to a critical 4th-and-1 play at the Owatonna 36 yard line, the senior had already started his internal process of deciphering Chanhassen’s alignment and would soon accurately identify the exact play it was about to set in motion.

Fitcher had clearly done his homework.

In the eight days leading up to the home-opening showdown at Federated Field, he’d diligently studied film, immersed himself in the game plan and faithfully listened to his coaches during practice. Ultimately, it was Fitcher’s willingness to execute the little things when no one was looking that put him in position to make the biggest play when everyone was watching.

“That’s our job to watch film,” Fitcher said after the game. “And we knew what play was coming . We knew it was going to be power Iso to the left, but that’s not exactly what happened.”

Indeed, Chanhassen’s critical fourth down call with the game on the line didn’t exactly unfold the way the it had been drawn up. Things quickly went haywire when quarterback Nate Ramler bobbled the snap from under center and was unable to rotate his hips to hand the ball off. After snatching the pigskin out of midair as it plummeted toward the turf below, Ramler likely never regained proper grip and simply followed his forward momentum, crashing headlong into the thicket of tussling humanity directly in front of him.

And that’s when Fitcher made his move.

Angling his body toward the action and sifting through the the scrum near the line of scrimmage, Fitcher found himself directly in Ramler’s path as the 6-5, 215-pound junior attempted to stretch the ball beyond the line to gain.

But there would be no moving the chains on this play.

Instead, Remler could only hopelessly watch as the ball slipped from his grasp and spun forward directly into Fitcher’s open arms. Without missing a step — and in one fluid motion — the Huskies’ senior linebacker tucked the ball into his left arm and began charging into the open field.

Without a defender within 25 yards of his wake, Fitcher didn’t stop running until he was comfortably into the end zone 64 yards down field. The electrifying defensive touchdown came with 11 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and was Fitcher’s second defensive score of the young season. More importantly, though, it put the Huskies on top for the first time in the game and ultimately represented the game-deciding TD in Owatonna’s thrilling 21-7 victory over the defending Class AAAAA state champions in a Northstar District crossover game.

“The ball bounced right into my hands and I was like ‘Oh, I gotta go,” Fitcher said. “I started taking off and I kept looking back because I thought someone was going to catch me, but Nolan (Ginskey) kept saying ‘you’re good, you’re good’ and all the sudden I’m in the end zone.’”

Eight days after scoring three touchdowns and blocking a punt in Owatonna’s blowout win over Hastings, Fitcher once again had his fingerprints all over the action on Friday night, collecting up his first sack of the season late in the fourth quarter, piling up seven tackles and ringing up 17 of his team-high 25 rushing yards during Owatonna’s penultimate offensive possession that syphoned four precious minutes off the clock and ultimately helped the Huskies salt the game away.

 “You have to want to make a play for your buddies,” Fitcher said. “You’re up 21-7 against the defending state champs, you have to want it. You have to close the game out strong, so I’m going to fight for every yard. And I respect my o-line so much. They were dog tired and never gave up.”

Fitcher and his teammates on the offensive line were merely two key components within a collectively resilient Owatonna effort against a physically-imposing — and ultra-hungry — Chanhassen squad that entered the game poised to bounce back from a season-opening loss to Elk River the previous week on its home field.

After a messy two-and-a-half quarters that saw the Huskies (2-0) fail to score in four trips deep inside Storm territory — three of which ended with turnovers in the red zone — and commit five penalties in the stretch, Owatonna found itself trailing just 7-0 when it was once again gift-wrapped excellent field position in the middle of the third quarter, this time taking over at the Chanhassen 17 yard line following a lop-sided punt that covered just eight yards.

After Chanhassen rang up its fourth sack of the game on the first snap of the ensuing OHS drive, the Huskies’ fortunes seemed to transform in a single fortuitous bounce when a Jamie Lisowski’s fourth down fumble slipped from his grasp, only to roll away from of an oncoming wave of Storm defenders and veer in the opposite direction toward the home sideline, eventually angling out of bounds inside the 2 yard line. Had the ball continued to roll forward for just another six feet, Chanhassen would have taken over at its own 20 yard line nursing a 7-0 lead.

Instead, Owatonna was awarded a first down and was celebrating a game-tying 1-yard touchdown run by Hunter Theis two plays later with just under 2:00 left on the third quarter clock.

Chanhassen took possession at its own 35 and proceeded to convert pair of high-pressure first downs, marching deep into Owatonna territory before the fateful 4th-and-1 fumble altered the trajectory of the entire game.

Theis — who completed just 7 of 15 passes and was picked off three times in the first 30 minutes of the game — displayed a great deal of poise during Owatonna’s pressure-packed comeback, spinning a pretty 27-yard TD pass to Nolan Ginskey at the 8:23-mark of the fourth quarter to help give the Huskies 21-7 lead. Theis was perfect on his final six throws of the night and completed 17 of 26 passes for 250 yards to go with two total touchdowns (1 passing, 1 rushing) and three interceptions.

“Our defense was keeping us in the game and it was about our offense stepping up and taking advantage of the opportunities we were given,” Owatonna coach Jeff Williams said. “I thought we did a good job of that in the second half and finished drives. I mean, we were still moving the ball well between the 20s, but we actually finished drives in the second half.”

Ginskey rarely left the field on either side of the ball and led the Huskies with 108 receiving yards and one touchdown. Luke Webber added four grabs for a career-high 84 yards while tight end Zach Haarstad pitched in three catches for 34 yards.

As uneven as Owatonna’s offensive performance was for the game’s first two-and-a-half quarters, its defensive effort was equally stifling for the entire 48 minutes. With players like Zach Haarstad and Zach Dahnert providing consistent pressure up front and Owatonna’s ultra-talented secondary squeezing the Storm receivers in the back end, Rambler was often unable set his feet in the pocket, much less gain any sort of consistent offensive rhythm. When all was said and done, the Huskies surrendering less than 100 total passing yards and permitted just 13 completions on 30 attempts.

Haarstad led the Huskies with three quarterback pressures and picked up his first sack of the season.

Chanhassen’s only scoring drive was spurred by consecutive Coleman Zielinski runs that spanned a combined 39 yards, but needed a risky 7-yard completion on 4^th-and-6 just to keep the possession alive. Riley Syverson bashed forward for a 1-yard TD run with 8:50 left in the second to account for the Storm’s only score.

Chanhassen’s sizable defensive front and physical linebackers held Owatonna to just two rushing yards on 29 attempts.

With the victory, Owatonna moves to 2-0 for the first time since the COVID-shortened season in 2020 and will likely find itself ranked comfortably within the top five of the initial Class AAAAA pole when it’s released next week.

“It’s early, but there are some teams that are beginning to establish themselves as powers within (Class) 5-A football,” Williams said. “And we believe like we are one of them.”

The Huskies will travel to winless New Prague on Friday night.

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OWATONNA 21, CHANHASSEN 7

SECOND QUARTER

C—Ryan Syverson 1 run (Kick good), 8:50; 7-0 Storm

THIRD QUARTER

O—Hunter Theis 1 run (Seth Johnson kick), 1:51; Tied 7-7

FOURTH QUARTER

O—Fitcher 67 fumble return (Johnson kick), 11:51; 14-7 Huskies

O—Nolan Ginskey 17 pass from Theis (Johnson kick), 8:23; 21-7 Huskies

OWATONNA individual stats

PASSING (COMP-ATT-YDS-TD-INT)

Hunter Theis 17-26-1-3

RUSHING (ATT-YDS-TD-FUM)

Seth Johnson 1 (-17); Hunter Theis 5 (-12)-1; Jamie Lisowski 11-1; Blake Fitcher 7-25; Tristan Graham 5-4; TOTALS 29-1-1-0

RECEIVING (REC-YDS-TD-FUM)

Seth Johnson 1-15; Nolan Ginskey 8-109-1; Jamie Lisowski 1-8; Luke Webber 4-83; Zach Haarstad 3-34; TOTALS 17-249-1-0

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