The second-seeded Northfield football team scored 14 unanswered points in the game’s final three minutes and completed a stunning, 26-23, comeback in a Section 1-5A semifinal showdown against No. 3 Owatonna at Memorial Field on Saturday night.

After Tristan Graham pushed across the goal line from 1 yard out to give the Huskies a 23-13 lead with 2 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, the Raiders went right to work, driving 72 yards in just seven plays and pulling within a single score at 23-20 when JT Graupmann found Ben Ims from 10 yards out with 1:38 left in the contest.

And then things got crazy.

Northfield recovered the ensuing onside kick, took over near midfield, was gifted a first down on 4th-and-2 due to to an Owatonna encroachment penalty and ultimately scored the game-winning touchdown when Ims snared his third and final touchdown of the second half on a perfectly spun pass from Graupmann with 36 seconds left in the game

Owatonna, though, wasn’t about to go out quietly, driving into field goal range after back-to-back connections between Aedan Tackmann and Nolan Rolloff, the second of which spanned 17 yards and set up the Huskies at their own 22 yard line with 7.6 seconds left.

However, senior Landen Sturges — who had established himself as one of the finest special teams players in the entire state throughout an amazing senior season as both a punter and kicker — missed a 40-yard field goal as time expired.

Owatonna’s recently ultra-productive ground attack was held down, yielding just 116 yards on 39 carries, most of which came from Tristan Graham (95 yards).

Aedan Tackmann posted a season and career-high 180 passing yards, completing 14 of 25 throws.

Defensively, the Huskies held the Raiders to zero net rushing yards on 14 carries. Graupmann, though, completed 14 of 32 passes for 336 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.

Before leaving with roughly two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Nolan Johnson rang up a team-high six tackles. Ben Sackett added five tackles and one sack.

Northfield (7-3) will travel to take on top-seeded Rochester Mayo (5-4) for the section title game on Friday. The Spartans defeated New Prague in the other semifinal game on Saturday evening.

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