Huskies win big on Senior Night

The Owatonna Huskies capped their regular season with a 28-13 win over Apple Valley last week to improve to 4-4 overall and head into the Section 1AAAAA tournament with momentum.

Head Coach Jeff Williams’ squad is heating up at the right time and has course-corrected to finish its last five games with a 4-1 record after a nightmare 0-3 start to the 2025 season.

“Really? It doesn’t feel like it. It feels like we’re going 15 rounds with Joe Frazier,” said Williams. “If we’re 4-1, that’s awesome. We’re starting to play some really good football.”

Owatonna’s regular-season finale had a slow start with Apple Valley taking an early 6-0 lead in the first quarter.

The Huskies’ offense struggled to find any consistency until the second quarter when running back Tristan Graham began to take matters into his own hands.

With just 1:17 left in the half, Graham found space and torched the Eagles’ defense on a 20-yard touchdown run to take the lead at 7-6 following a successful extra point.

Apple Valley responded well with a quick two-minute drill drive down the field, but the Eagles made a severe blunder when it mattered most.

After a long pass set the Eagles up inside the Huskies’ 10-yard line, Apple Valley’s quarterback made a critical mental error by kneeling instead of spiking the ball.

Since Apple Valley had already used all three of its timeouts earlier in the half, the play resulted in time expiring before the team could get off another snap.

Owatonna’s fortunate break seemed to save them from a potential disaster, but when action began in the second half, it was anything but luck that propelled the Huskies to the win.

The Huskies’ defense went to work violently attacking the quarterback and getting multiple tacklers on every ball carrier – suffocating the Eagles’ offense.

While Apple Valley faltered, Owatonna fed off its momentum.

Offensive coordinator Matt Skala went to work putting together long, sustained drives that almost exclusively featured Graham running the ball down the Eagles’ throats.

The bell-cow back was not to be denied and eventually scored his second touchdown of the game on a one-yard rush to give the Huskies a 14-6 advantage with 4:09 left in the third.

Owatonna’s next scoring drive came a quarter later and was nearly a mirror image of the previous one.

Graham looked unstoppable running behind a Huskies’ offensive line that was consistently generating a strong push and opening holes.

The result: another Graham touchdown from seven yards out to give Owatonna a 21-6 lead with 9:22 left in the game.

The score marked his third of the game – quite the senior night for Owatonna’s most trusted back.

“It feels amazing, especially coming from the win we just had against Mayo. I think we just have to keep building off of what we found successful halfway through the year… [the offensive line] brought that fire coming off the line, they were explosive and opened the holes. Them trusting me, knowing I’m going to make the play if they give me anything,” said Graham.

Another quick stop and a 15-point advantage late in the game called for backup running back Kade Hullopeter to get some reps.

The 2025 junior made a strong case to be the team’s heir to the backfield throne in 2026 after putting in an impressive string of rushes and finding the end zone from nine yards out.

Hullopeter’s tally gave Owatonna a 28-6 lead with 5:04 remaining.

Apple Valley’s chances of winning were looking slim until the team busted off a huge kick return and a 55-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead in half with 4:39 remaining.

The Eagles lined up for an onside kick afterward and had Owatonna fans sweating after a botched recovery by the Huskies gave Apple Valley the ball in plus territory.

However, the magic had officially run out for the Eagles when the team’s quarterback threw an errant pass into double coverage that was intercepted by Huskies’ safety Nolan Rolloff.

The turnover effectively ended the game with Owatonna winning 28-13.

Prior to the win, Owatonna had already been handed the No. 3 seed in the Section 1AAAAA playoffs and squared off against No. 6 Rochester Century at Federated Field on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m.

Stats and results from the game were not available at the time of print.

Player Stats

Passing

#7 Aedann Tackman – 3/7 28 yards 2 Int.

Rushing

#20 Tristan Graham – 20 att. 200 yards 3 TD; #21 Kade Hulopeter – 11 att. 84 yards 1 TD; #26 Zachary Roesner – 3 att. 20 yards; #7 Tackman – 1 att. 6 yards; #2 Nolan Rolloff – 1 att. 2 yards

Receiving

#9 Nolan Johnson – 1 rec. 15 yards; #14 Lee Smith – 2 rec. 13 yards