Huskies spoil Raiders’ homecoming

The Owatonna Huskies played spoiler in the Northfield Raiders’ homecoming game by winning 26-21 in comeback fashion late in the fourth quarter.

The Huskies built an initial lead in the first half, but some untimely errors early in the second forced head coach Jeff Williams’ squad to search for late answers – which they found in the form of a 33-yard passing touchdown from quarterback Jacob Ginskey to wideout Nolan Ginskey.

“We went into halftime with a pretty good lead and felt like we had momentum on our side, but then the third quarter was just a disaster. For us to be in a position to come back in the fourth quarter and win, it was good. Our defense continued to come up big play after play to get the ball back to our offense. The kids showed a lot of resilience. We faced adversity, but we continued to play our game and our guys never flinched,” said Williams.
A sour punt early in the first quarter gave Northfield a short field to work with for its first possession of the game, and the Raiders took full advantage by punching in a four-yard rushing touchdown from quarterback Kamden Kaiser at the 7:57 mark to lead 7-0.

Owatonna’s early stumble didn’t keep the Huskies down for long, as the team found its first score of the game with a Ginskey-to-Ginskey connection on a 49-yard passing touchdown with 2:33 remaining in the first quarter.

The score tied the game at 7-7 and gave Owatonna the much-needed momentum to begin building its lead.

Owatonna found the endzone again shortly afterward, this time on a 27-yard hookup between Jacob Ginskey and wideout Caleb Hullopeter to take a 14-7 lead with 8:11 remaining in the half.

Just 5:37 later, the Huskies built their lead to 20-7 after Ginskey found his brother, Nolan, again, this time for a 50-yard score with an unsuccessful point-after attempt to follow.

Northfield had no answer before halftime, giving Owatonna the 20-7 edge as both teams hit the locker rooms.

However, Owatonna’s early momentum would evaporate nearly as soon as the second half began.

With a rowdy homecoming crowd on their side, Northfield managed to score twice in the third quarter to take a 21-20 lead.

The Raiders’ scores were both set up by Owatonna turnovers, a trend that has kept Huskies’ opponents competitive in games for most of the season to date.

To make matters worse, Northfield recovered an onside kick after its go-ahead touchdown to take possession again with 5:45 remaining in the third quarter.

Northfield’s ensuing drive stalled, and thus began a defensive grudge match that saw both offenses struggle to find their rhythm.

Neither side managed to score until the Huskies finally broke through with four minutes left in the game.

Once again, the Ginskey-to-Ginskey connection accounted for its third touchdown of the game on a 32-yard passing play.

Not only did the score help put Jacob Ginskey over 300 yards passing, it also brought Nolan Ginskey to a staggering 206 yards receiving on 11 receptions.

Owatonna elected to go for two points leading 26-21, but its attempt to go up by a touchdown and an extra point was unsuccessful.

Northfield got one last crack at a game-winning drive, but ultimately could not penetrate the Huskies’ defense, allowing Owatonna to regain possession and kneel out the clock.

Owatonna’s win moved the Huskies to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play to take sole possession of the lead in the Northstar South-Maroon division.

The Huskies will host Rochester Century in their next game on Friday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m.

Rochester Century enters its game against the Huskies with a 1-3 overall record.

Player Stats

Passing

#2 Jacob Ginskey – 16/29 338 yards 4 TD 1 int.

Rushing

#33 Brennan Sletten – 11 att. 62 yards; #2 Ginskey – 9 att. 24 yards; #3 Nolan Ginskey – 2 att. 7 yards; #9 Jamie Lisowksi – 5 att. 3 yards; #20 Mitch Seykora – 1 att. 0 yards; #87 Joey Pirkl – 1 att. -2 yards

Receiving

#3 Ginskey – 11 rec. 206 yards 3 TD; #8 Caleb Hullopeter – 3 rec. 85 yards 1 TD; #1 Owen Beyer – 2 rec. 47 yards