It was far from a perfect performance, but when you leave the field at the end of the fourth quarter with more points than the other team, everyone goes home happy.

Everyone wearing an Owatonna uniform, that is.

Perhaps coasting a bit after building a three-touchdown lead — and perhaps due to a few timely adjustments by Rochester Century — the Owatonna football team let the Panthers hang around far too long for comfort but, ultimately, closed out a 33-19 victory in the quarterfinal round of the Section 1-5A tournament on a chilly and windy evening at Federated Field.

The victory was the fifth in six outings for the third-seeded Huskies (5-4), who will travel to take on No. 2 Northfield (5-3) on Saturday night for their semifinal contest. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Memorial Field. The Raiders, of course, defeated Owatonna, 28-7, in Week 5 and had a bye in the opening round.

On the other side of the bracket, New Prague took down Rochester John Marshall, 39-30, and will take on top-seeded Rochester Mayo in the next round.

On Tuesday night in Owatonna, Tristan Graham continued his torrid stretch on the ground, ringing up a career-high 240 rushing yards on 40 carries to go with three touchdowns. It was his second 200-plus yard performance in a row, marking the first time an Owatonna running back has reached this milestone in back-to-back games since Jason Williamson in 2018.

The career outing also pushes the Graham past 1,000 yards for the season with at least one more game remaining. Last year, Graham finished with 1,073 yards and 12 touchdowns in 12 games. Through nine games in 2025, he unofficially has 1,210 yards and 11 scores.

“Our o-line is really firing off the ball and getting underneath pads,” Graham said after the game. “They’ve gotten better all season and created so many holes. It’s allowed me to do what I do best.”

As a team, the Huskies racked up 296 rushing yards, punishing the Panthers in the trenches for the majority of the contest. Graham got the scoring started when he capped a ground-and-pound possession with a 4-yard scoring jaunt at the 4:36 mark of the opening quarter and helped extend Owatonna’s lead to 14-0 with a 34-yard touchdown scamper on the first play of the second. On the next OHS possession, Kaleb Hullopeter pin-balled his way into the end zone from six yards out to stretch Owatonna’s lead to 20-0 with 4 minutes, 35 seconds left before halftime.

Rochester Century, which didn’t move the chains until the 3:36-mark of the second quarter, countered on its ensuing drive and drew with two scores when Max Elliot found the edge and used his track star speed to gallop into the end zone from 66 yards out.

Owatonna scored on the opening drive to begin the third quarter — re-establishing a three-possession lead when Aedan Tackmann lofted a pass to a wide open Will Halverson for a 28 yard TD with 6:32 on the clock — but were exploited by a suddenly resurgent Century offense. The Panthers scored the game’s next two touchdowns and temporarily subdued Owatonna’s ground attack to close the stanza, pulling within 26-19 when Elliot strolled into the end zone from 1 yard out with just 10 seconds on the clock. The score came one play after Century gained 17 yards on 4th-and-2.

Owatonna, though, buckled down in the final quarter — sacking the Panthers four times in the period — and put the game away with a 7-play, 67-yard scoring march that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Graham.

For the game, the Huskies racked up a season-high six sacks, two apiece by Ryan Mcintosh and Carter Flatland.

FINAL STATS

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