ROCHESTER — Buoyed by a gnarly effort from its offensive line and a bend-but-never-bust defense, the Owatonna football team stacked together its second consecutive victory in Northstar South-Maroon District action on Friday night, walloping Rochester John Marshall, 25-7, at John Drews Field near downtown Rochester.

“Oh, definitely, this one feels amazing,” starting interior lineman, Hunter Theobald, said moments after the game. “We heard a lot of people saying that last week was a fluke, but this was tonight, and tonight just proves them wrong.”

The Huskies — fresh off a thrilling last-second victory over New Prague in Week 4 — exploited the Rockets both on the ground and through the air. Tristan Graham racked up his third consecutive triple-digit rushing effort, amassing 179 yards to go with touchdown runs of 10, 65 and 31 yards — the final of which officially put the game on ice while cementing the final score with 5 minutes, 51 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

“If you give him an inch of daylight, he’s going to hit it,” Theobald said of his fellow senior in Graham. “And he will score.”

Added Graham: “All credit to the line. They opened the holes and hit them. This one feels good for sure.”

Owatonna complimented its awesome ground attack with an ultra-lethal aerial display as first-year quarterback, Aedan Tackmann, was nearly perfect in his fifth career start, completing 9 of 12 passes for 108 yards. He did not throw a touchdown pass — Graham accounted for all three of those for the Huskies on the ground — but also did not throw an interception.

Sophomore Cooper Routh continued to shine as Tackmann’s emerging No. 1 target, snaring three passes for 63 yards. All three of his receptions — including an acrobatic leaping grab over a pair of defenders in the third quarter — went for first downs.

Defensively, Owatonna (2-3 overall, 2-1 District) bailed the offense out early by stuffing the Rockets (1-4, 1-2) deep in the red zone after a turnover-on-downs on John Marshall’s side of the field in the middle of the first quarter and buckled down late, allowing just one first down during the game’s critical final 12 minutes.

The Huskies also successfully contained John Marshall’s talented quarterback Savy Vath, holding the senior to 225 yards of total offense, 158 passing and 67 rushing. Charging headlong into the teeth of the swarming OHS defense and calling his number more than a dozen times on designed run plays, Vath was held right around his season average of 5.1 yards-per-carry before leaving late in the fourth quarter with an apparent injury. He completed four consecutive throws during the Rockets’ lone scoring possession in the middle of the third quarter, but was held to just 11 of 25 overall to go with one touchdown pass.

Owatonna — which finished with zero penalties and zero turnovers — led from start to finish and outscored the Rockets 10-0 in the fourth quarter.

Landen Sturges was 2-for-2 on extra points and drilled a 19-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to extend the Huskies’ lead to a critical two possessions.

With the victory, Owatonna’s winning streak over the Rockets extends to 24 consecutive games dating back to October of 2005.

The Huskies now embark on a crucial two-game stretch against the top two teams in the unofficial Section 1-AAAAA standings, starting with a trip to Northfield on Friday night. The Raiders, who stand at No. 27 in the latest Class AAAAA QRF rankings and own an identical 2-1 mark against sectional opponents as the Huskies, moved to 4-2 overall with a blowout win over New Prague in Week 5, beating the Trojans 28-7 on the road.

OHS will host frontrunner Rochester Mayo in Week 7 before capping the regular season with a Wednesday showdown at home against Apple Valley.

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OWATONNA 25, ROCHESTER JOHN MARSHALL 7

OHS…0 8 7 10 – 25

RJM…0 0 7 0 – 7

SECOND QUARTER

O-Tristan Graham 10 run (Hullopeter run), 0:51

THIRD QUARTER

O-Graham 65 run (Landen Sturges kick), 9:28

JM-Jamal Faux 20 pass from Savy Vath (kick good), 6:10

FOURTH QUARTER

O-Sturges 19 field goal, 11:54

O-Graham 31 run (Sturges kick), 5:51

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PHOTOS BY JON WEISBROD AND GARY WALTER