COVER PHOTO BY JOSH WALERIUS

NEW PRAGUE — The Owatonna football team was neither as sparkling as it was in Week 1, nor as clutch as it was in Week 2.

But the results were just the same.

Despite some untimely mistakes and struggles gaining traction on the ground down the stretch, the Huskies won their first Northstar District South-Maroon contest of the season and remain undefeated with a 19-7 decision over New Prague.

“Untidy?” Owatonna coach Jeff Williams reacted with a chuckle when asked if that was the best word to describe his team’s effort on Friday night. “Well, on offense, yes. But the defense came to play.”

Owatonna’s defense appears to be a couple steps ahead of its offense as the No. 3-ranked Huskies trek toward midseason. After the Trojans (0-3 overall, 0-1 Northstar South-Maroon) steadily charged down the field on the game’s opening possession and capped a 13-play, 82-yard drive with a short touchdown run to take the lead at the 4:09-mark of the first quarter, the Huskies buckled down. Owatonna permitted New Prague to cross midfield just once the remainder of the game and pitched a shutout the rest of the way.

In fact, New Prague never even knocked on the door.

The Trojans’ final nine possessions featured six punts, one interception, one turnover-on-downs and one drive that ended when the clock expired in the second quarter.

“I think part of the deal (against New Prague) is that they are so physical,” Williams said. “They are so dedicated to their physicality and they just sort of keep coming at you. It takes a little while to settle into that kind of a game…But I think we did a nice job with them (and) forced them into some passing situations later in the game, which was good because I think they struggled in that regard. We were able to close things out.”

Blake Davison — who finished with 99 tackles last season — led OHS with 15 tackles, two coming from behind the line of scrimmage. Zach Haarstad added six tackles, five of which were solo stops.

Unlike the defense, the Huskies’ offense had far less success closing the game out. Though it ultimately failed to convert on both opportunities, New Prague was presented with a pair of chances to cut into the deficit in the fourth quarter, starting when its defense stuffed Owatonna on 4th-and-short at the 8:42-mark. The Trojans got the ball back and penetrated OHS territory for the first time since the opening quarter, but were unable to convert on fourth down at the 42 yard line, handing the ball back to the Huskies. Owatonna, though, was forced to punt after a pair of runs and and incomplete pass netted the Huskies (3-0, 1-0) just six yards.

For Williams, it was far too close for comfort.

“Our offensive line needs to take pride in their ability to move the pile,” Williams said. “And we didn’t. And we made the defense go back out there a couple times when we could have just run the dang clock out, essentially. We could have just put the game away.”

“There’s a lot of stuff to clean up, and we felt that way last week too,” he continued. “But, yeah, we’re still 3-0 and coming back home to see Northfield (in Week 4).”

After some early fireworks, which included an 80-yard catch-and-run touchdown from its superstar playmaker Nolan Ginskey on Owatonna’s first offensive snap of the game, the Huskies — similar to Week 2 against Chanhassen — were snake-bitten by turnovers deep in the opponent’s end of the field, losing fumble at New Prague’s 21 yard line early in the second quarter and coughing it up just five yards shy of paydirt on its first drive of the third.

Ultimately, though, Ginskey’s prolific playmaking ability proved to be the x-factor as the senior finished with two touchdowns and 187 receiving yards, his second TD reception coming on 3rd-and-long and spanning 37 yards when the 5-foot-11 senior snatched the ball at the apex of his jump between a pair of defenders, landed around the 20 yard line and strolled into the end zone late in the second quarter. It was Hunter Theis’ second and final TD pass of the game and gave the Huskies the lead for good.

Theis finished 11-for-15 for 196 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Tristan Graham also had a strong game out of the backfield, scoring his first career rushing touchdown at the 3:09 mark of the third quarter. He led OHS with 128 rushing yards on 20 carries.

“I thought he ran like a man-child tonight,” Williams said of Graham. “He did a great job of cutting back and making guys miss. Coach Melcher made a nice adjustment to solidify the back side of the zone (run) play, which made the cutbacks even more available to him. Those are the types of adjustments you make during the course of the game. But we still have some work to do (in the run game) and I’m excited to get back out there on Monday going to work.”

The No. 3-ranked Huskies will host rival Northfield (1-2, 0-1) on Friday night. the Raiders lost, 28-6, to Rochester John Marshall in Week 3.

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No. 3 OWATONNA 19, NEW PRAGUE 7

FIRST QUARTER

NP—Michael Bruner 3 run (Thomas Geiger kick), 4:09; 7-0 TROJANS

O—Hunter Theis 80 pass to Nolan Ginskey (Kick blocked), 3:49; 7-6 Trojans

SECOND QUARTER

O—Theis 37 pass to Ginskey (Run fai;), 1:40; 12-7 HUSKIES

THIRD QUARTER

O—Tristan Graham 12 run (Seth Johnson kick); 19-7 Huskies

OWATONNA INDIVIDUAL STATS

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

Hunter Theis 11-15-198-2-0; TOTALS 11-15-198-2-0

RUSHING (ATT-YDS-TD-FUM)

Theis 4-1; Jamie Lisowski 4-2; Tristan Graham 20-128-1-0

RECEIVING (REC-YDS-TD-FUM)

Nolan Ginskey 8-187-2-0; Luke Webber 2-6; Darian Stransky 1-3-0-1; TOTALS 11-196-2-1

DEFENSE

Blake Davison 15 TT (10 solo); Zach Haarstad 6 TT (5 solo); Blake Fitcher 5 TT (3 solo); Webber 5 TT (4 solo)-1 INT;