COVER PHOTO BY JON WEISBROD / GALLERY BY GARY WALTER

Ignited by a super-charged opening salvo and spearheaded by another stellar performance from its two-way superstar, top-seeded Owatonna punched its ticket to the Class AAAAA state tournament with a resounding 38-15 victory over second-seeded Rochester John Marshall on Friday night in the section championship game at Federated Field.

Thanks to the newly remodeled state tournament format, the undefeated Huskies (10-0) have been awarded the top seed in the South quadrant and will meet No. 4-seeded Cretin-Derham Hall (6-4) on Saturday, November 9 at 1 p.m. at Eastview High School in Apple Valley in the state quarterfinals. The other remaining matchup in the South features Section 3 champ St. Thomas Academy against Section 2 winner Chanhassen.

The remaining Class 5A opening round contests in the North include No. 1 Elk River vs. No. 4 Monticello and No. 2 Alexandria vs. No. 3 Robbinsdale Armstrong. After the state quarterfinals, the four remaining teams will be be re-seeded prior to the semifinal round at U.S. Bank Stadium.

But that is for another day.

In the immediate aftermath of the game Friday, the Huskies were content to pause, soak in the moment and bask in a unified triumph that ultimately earned the program its 12^th section championship trophy and 11^th state tournament appearance, eight of which have come during the Huskies’ recent championship era dating back to 2012.

“I have every emotion possible going through my mind right now,” said Nolan Ginskey. “I couldn’t be happier. There isn’t a group of teammates and coaches that I’d rather do this with. It’s just awesome.”

Added fellow captain Blake Davison: “It’s a section final game. We were so hyped for this one. This is one of those games where everyone played with that passion.”

Squaring off against a resurgent John Marshall team that admitted how monumental a win against the Huskies would be for not only the current team, but for the advancement program overall, it was the Huskies who actually came out playing like they had something to prove. And perhaps they did. OHS, after all, was coming off a shaky performance against New Prague in the section semifinals and was just three weeks removed from a game in which it was outplayed by the Rockets for large chunks of its 32-22 victory in Rochester.

Any remaining doubts, though, lasted about as long as a Minnesota autumn as Owatonna came out swinging. And connecting.

Owatonna didn’t miss a punch in the game’s critical opening two quarters, raced out to a 24-0 lead by the middle of the second quarter and took a commanding 31-7 advantage into the break.

“We knew we had to bring it right away,” Davison said. “This was personal for us.”

Four different OHS players found the end zone in the first half and Seth Johnson added a 32-yard field goal. In the stretch, Luke Webber racked up 62 of his game-high 91 receiving yards and scored his only touchdown of the contest, galloping under a perfectly lofted spiral from Hunter Theis down the left sideline and racing into the end zone from 30 yards out at the 9:43-mark of the second quarter.

Theis completed 10 of 16 passes prior to halftime — four of which came in consecutive fashion during Owatonna’s final scoring drive of in the final moments of the first half — and accounted for his lone TD pass in the span.

Tristan Graham notched the first of his two rushing TDs on the evening before intermission and accumulated the bulk of his game-high 89 rushing yards.

Operating out of the backfield more than he had all season, Ginskey finished with 75 total yards of offense (46 receiving, 29 rushing), scored one touchdown and picked off two passes. His second interception came in the middle of the fourth quarter and squashed any remaining hopes the Rockets had of finishing a comeback that saw them draw within 16 points early in the fourth quarter.

“It all comes down to trust in the game plan,” he said. “I know our run defense it stellar and there aren’t a lot of teams that are going to shove the ball down our throats and run the ball, so we expect pass along every play. The it’s just about going out there and making a play for the team and trusting everyone around you.”

Owatonna held John Marshall to 217 yards of total offense, more than one-third of which came on a 76-yard catch-and-run by Chris Garcia-Lara.

The Huskies also came up with a pivotal defensive stand early in the fourth quarter when they stuffed the Rockets behind the line of scrimmage on 1st-and-goal from the 3 yard line before forcing three straight incompletions to officially turn the Rockets over on downs. At the time, the Huskies had seen their lead shrink to 31-15 and eventually connected for the knockout blow when Graham found paydirt from six yards out with 4 minutes, 18 seconds left on the clock. The scoring march can directly after Ginskey’s second interception.

The Rockets finished with just 32 rushing yards on 12 attempts and were tackled behind the line of scrimmage six times.

Per usual, Davison led the Huskies with seven tackles and now sits exactly 10 shy of reaching triple digits. Zach Haarstad forced a pair of fumbles and collected one sack while Blake Fitcher added five tackles and one sack.

POSTGAME NOTES:

Landen Sturgis connected for a booming 67-yard punt during a critical juncture in the second half. The kick is one of the longest in Owatonna program history…All-district center, Jack Meneguzzo, appeared to suffer a season-ending injury after going down in the fourth quarter and ultimately left the stadium in crutches. In his place, Reed Kath shifted to center and was replaced by off the bench by Eli Black at left tackle…Ginskey’s 10 interceptions establishes a new school record for a single season in the category, eclipsing the old mark of eight set by Isaac Oppegard in 2019. For his career, Ginskey has 14 interceptions, putting him two behind the all-time school record of 16 set by Kyle Melcher…Rochester JM did not gain a first down until the 9:30-mark of the second quarter…The Rockets were whistled for two critical false start penalties on separate 3rd-and-short plays in the first half…John Marshall leading rusher, Ty’Shawn Beane, was held to zero yards on five carries. The senior came into the game averaging 7.2 yards per carry.

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