Huskies fall 42-20 in state semis

Owatonna football’s dream run came to an end last weekend at U.S. Bank Stadium when the Huskies fell 42-20 to the Alexandria Area in the semifinal round of the Class AAAAA state tournament.

The No. 1 Huskies showed grit fighting for every inch of ground covered, but Alexandria’s polished passing game looked effortless over the course of the night, compiling 432 total yards through the air.

“That quarterback, he is incredible. Even when we were bringing pressures, he would keep drifting and rolling out. Even on his back foot, he’s throwing the ball 40-50 yards down the field. We brought a lot of different pressures and he was still able to get the ball out on time. And their receivers, No. 5, 7, 14 – all of them. They were as good as advertised. They’re a great team. Our kids fought hard, but sometimes you have to tip your cap,” said Owatonna Defensive Coordinator Marc Achterkirch.

The Huskies won the coin toss and elected to defer, sending the opening kickoff into Alexandria Area’s endzone for a touchback.

The Cardinals wasted no time showing off their explosiveness, connecting on a 58-yard post route over the middle to move deep into Owatonna territory.

According to Achterkirch, Alexandria Area utilized a five-wide spread offense to give the Huskies a look that they had rarely seen during the season.

Complications from the formation resulted in outside linebackers being taken off the line and moved into the slot at times to play in coverage – creating matchups that the Cardinals exploited heavily.

Owatonna showed some resilience in holding the Cardinals to a fourth-and-one scenario in the red zone, but Alexandria Area gambled and was rewarded with an 11-yard passing score to take a 7-0 lead.

Owatonna’s initial drive stalled soon after, allowing Alexandria Area to take control of the game’s momentum.

The Cardinals marched down the field again, but this time were stuffed on a fourth-and-one attempt at the Huskies’ five-yard line, temporarily shifting the momentum in the Huskies’ favor.

However, Owatonna was unable to capitalize on the big stop and instead was forced to punt the ball again.

Alexandria Area used more big plays in the passing game to fly down the field and score again just before the end of the quarter on a 12-yard passing play.

By the end of the opening quarter, the Cardinals had accrued 190 yards of total offense, 189 of which came in the passing game.

Owatonna’s first scoring drive came early in the second quarter when a few timely penalties kept the Huskies’ drive alive after starting deep in their own territory.

With the ball inside the Cardinals’ 10-yard line, Owatonna had a slight blunder when an errant snap went over the head of wildcat quarterback Nolan Ginskey.

The play resulted in the Huskies being pushed back to the Cardinals’ 18 and matters were made worse when fullback Blake Fitcher was hit with a blindside block penalty.

The infraction created a second-and-goal scenario from the 18 – less than ideal for Owatonna’s scoring chances.

Thankfully for the Huskies, a few plays later, a pass interference penalty by the Cardinals on a pass to Ginskey in the end zone created third-and-goal from the Cardinals’ three.

Quarterback Hunter Theis dropped back to pass and found a running lane between multiple Cardinal defenders and fought his way into the endzone to give Owatonna life with 8:31 left in the half.

Alexandria Area managed to block the point after attempt, holding the score at 14-6.

Neither side was able to gain much traction on offense afterward until Alexandria Area’s biggest play of the game came in an unlikely spot late in the half.

Ahead of a third-and-14 play from its own 39-yard line, Alexandria Area was forced to take star quarterback Chase Thompson out of the game for one play.

The Huskies looked poised to force a punt as backup quarterback Talan Witt took the field, but instead, Witt uncorked a 36-yard pass down the visitors’ sideline to set his team up at the Owatonna 25.

Thompson returned to the game the next play and ultimately scored a one-yard rushing touchdown later in the drive.

The score put the Cardinals up 21-6 with 2:20 left in the half.

Matters only got worse for Owatonna when Theis threw an interception on the first play of the Huskies’ ensuing possession.

Thompson punished the Huskies again for another mistake, this time connecting on a 26-yard passing touchdown on the first play of the Cardinals’ drive.

Owatonna tried to gain momentum down 28-6 late in the half, but were forced to punt with just under 30 seconds until halftime.

Instead of taking a knee at its own 34 to end the half, Alexandria Area chose to get aggressive and paid the price when Huskies’ linebacker Blake Davison made a spectacular play intercepting the Cardinals’ screen pass attempt and taking it to the house for a pick-six.

The score was followed by a successful two-point rush by Ginskey to cut the lead to 28-14 with seven seconds remaining until halftime.

Hopes were high for the Huskies coming out of halftime with some momentum, but the tide of the game shifted soon after.

A shoulder injury to Theis, multiple three-and-out drives, and a handful of picks led to two more Alexandria Area scoring drives in the third and fourth quarters, all but icing the game for the Cardinals at 42-14.

Part of what hurt Owatonna’s chances was Alexandria Area’s run defense, which held Owatonna to just nine total rushing yards on 23 attempts over the course of the game.

“We had to go way deeper in the playbook, and we knew maybe we would have to going into the game. I mean, you can see it on tape, we had 10 or 11 games on them. Their defensive line was very, very good. We had questions because nobody had really tried to run between the tackles on them, so we had a deeper play call list in the pass game. But you don’t really get a lot of reps running that stuff. There are only so many rubs, ins and outs, and crossers you can scheme up to beat man coverage. If you can’t run the football, it’s awfully tough,” said Owatonna Head Coach Jeff Williams.

The Huskies scored one more time on a pass from backup quarterback Michael Heitkamp to Ginskey, but the Cardinals blocked the point after try again to keep the score at 42-20.

The loss officially ended the Huskies’ season with an 11-1 record.

Player Stats

Passing

#7 Hunter Theis – 11-24 113 yards 1 int.; #6 Michael Heitkamp – 7-16 71 yards 1 TD 2 int.

Rushing

#20 Tristan Graham – 9 att. 28 yards; #7 Theis – 5 att. 3 yards 1 TD; #6 Heitkamp – 6 att. 2 yards; #10 Blake Fitcher – 1 att. 0 yards; #3 Nolan Ginskey – 2 att. -24 yards

Receiving

#3 Ginskey – 9 rec. 140 yards 1 TD; #81 Zach Haarstad – 3 rec. 23 yards; #20 Graham – 3 rec. 11 yards; #2 Seth Johnson – 2 rec. 7 yards; #11 Luke Webber – 1 rec. 3 yards