MINNEAPOLIS — Chase Thompson threw for nearly 400 yards and Mason Gorghuber caught four touchdown passes to carry Alexandria to a 42-20 rout of Owatonna in the Class AAAAA state semifinals at U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday night.

Standing tall behind a hulking offensive line that out-weighed the Huskies’ by more than 30 pounds apiece up front, the 6-foot-7 Thompson — who is a national top 175 basketball recruit committed to play at Clemson University next year — picked apart Owatonna’s man-to-man defense, completing 24 of 38 passes for 396 yards and five touchdowns. He was not sacked and surpassed 170 yards through the air by the end of the first quarter, hitting Mason Witt for a 58-yard bomb on the first play from scrimmage.

“We are an aggressive offense and coming out that way has been our MO all season,” said Thompson. “When it’s man-to-man, we love that stuff. And I trust my guys. We rep it out in practice…(the offensive line) has been great all year long. I take them to McDonald’s sometimes, so they have a reason to block for me. I try to keep their attitudes (positive), as well as mine. They were sending a lot of pressure and my guys were able to keep me upright.”

Added Owatonna senior captain Blake Davison: “Against a good team like that, you’re going to have to step up or face the consequences. It was tough, but that’s a great team and we gave it our best efforts.”

Along with his four touchdown grabs, Gorghuber finished with a career-high 12 receptions and 235 yards. Teammate Evan Klundt added six grabs, 83 yards and one touchdown. On defense, the University of South Dakota recruit picked off one pass and collected a pair of tackles-for-loss.

Though the Huskies drew as close as a single possession at 14-6 in the middle of the second quarter on a 9-yard TD run by Hunter Theis, the Cardinals never trailed and spent most of the game building on a multi-touchdown lead. In fact, had it not been for an Alexandria turnover on downs at the OHS 5 yard line late in the first quarter and a missed field goal in the third, the score could have been — and probably should have been — even more lop-sided.

“Players have to make plays,” Alexandria coach Michael Empting said. “And we have a lot of good football players and we had a lot of guys step up tonight.”

Shortly after the Cardinals extended the lead to three touchdowns, Davison stepped in front of a Thompson pass and returned it 34 yards for a touchdown with just 7 seconds on the clock in the second quarter, drawing the Huskies within 28-14 and giving his team a glimmer of hope as they headed into the break.

However, any momentum the Huskies might have carried through the 20-minute intermission was slowly and painfully surrendered in the second half. Owatonna went backwards on their first two offensive possessions of the third quarter — netting negative-8 yards on six total plays — and found itself trailing by as many as 28 points after Klundt hauled in a 17-yard TD in the middle of the fourth quarter to make it 42-14.

Though the Huskies became only the third team to score 20 or more points against the Cardinals this season, they mustered just one offensive touchdown until Nolan Ginskey found the end zone on a 27-yard catch-and-run on a short toss from Michael Heitkamp with 1:59 left in the contest.

Owatonna was held to less than 10 rushing yards, punted six times and was out-gained 471 to 193 in total yards. The Cardinals also won the turnover battle 3-1.

“It was a good gameplan on their part,” Owatonna hall-of-fame coach, Jeff Williams, said. “They did a nice job in stopping our run game and were able to drop back into a soft, man-under, two-deep and made it difficult to throw the ball as well. They have some really, really nice athletes and are a really good football team. Their lines made it very difficult for us on both sides of the ball.”

The loss ends what was an otherwise ultra-successful and memorable season for Owatonna (11-1), which played in its first state semifinal game since 2018. The campaign included signature wins over fellow state semifinalist — and defending Class AAAAA state champion — Chanhassen in Week 2, as well as a convincing victory over rival Mankato West in Week 6. The Huskies also handed Rochester John Marshall two of its three total losses this season, including a 38-15 victory in the Section 1-AAAAA title game.

“I am just really proud of these guys,” Williams added. “They never flinched the whole season. And, you know, it’s tough to end this way. But Alexandria is a really fine football team and did some really nice things out there. Hats off.”

Ginskey — who is a Mr. Football finalist and All-Star game invitee — finished with a team-high nine grabs, 140 receiving yards and one touchdown. His 85 receptions and 1,319 yards on the season are both Owatonna records and unofficially tops in the entire state in both categories. His 10 interceptions are also No. 1 amongst all six MSHSL 11-man levels (Class A-Class AAAAAA).

The victory was the third in a row for Alexandria against an opponent that came into the contest undefeated, having previously defeated No. 1-ranked Moorhead in the Section 8-AAAAA title game and Robbinsdale Armstrong in the state quarterfinals.

The Cardinals (10-2) will play Elk River (11-1) in the Class AAAAA state title game next Saturday, November 23 at 4 p.m. The Elks — who defeated Chanhassen Friday night in the other semifinal matchup and beat Alexandria 44-37 in Week 8 — will play in their fourth state championship game since capturing the first of the program’s two total recent Prep Bowl titles in 2016.

Alexandria will participate in its third state title game in program history and first since 1994. The program’s only state championship came in 1974 when the Cardinals defeated Chaska in the Class A title game, which was the second-largest of four total MSHSL classifications back then.

NOTES: Future University of Minnesota kicker, Daniel Jackson, boomed seven touchbacks on seven kickoffs for the Cardinals, one of which split the uprights behind the OHS end zone…Before exiting the game late in the third half, Theis had completed 11 of 25 passes for 114 yards and one interception…Alexandria backup quarterback, Talan Witt, completed one pass for 36 yards after entering the game for one play on third-and-long after Thompson’s helmet came loose on Alexandria’s first scoring drive of the third quarter…The Huskies’ lone scoring drive in the first half was aided by three personal foul infractions whistled against the Cardinals. For the game, Alexandria was penalized eight times for 87 yards.

>> CLICK FOR FINAL STATS

>> CLICK FOR MORE PHOTOS (GARY WALTER PHOTO & VIDEO)

---

PHOTOS BY JON WEISBROD & GARY WALTER