West beats Owatonna 38-14 at Federated Field

Owatonna football suffered its first loss of the season in its home opener last Friday by dropping a 38-14 game to the Mankato West Scarlets.

The two teams played a tight match all the way until the fourth quarter when the Scarlets separated themselves by outscoring Owatonna 17-0.

Owatonna’s opening drive started off in style with the Huskies marching down the field and striking first on a five-yard passing touchdown from quarterback Aedan Tackmann to fullback Zach Roesner.

With the crowd at its back, Owatonna seemed to be surging toward another impressive showing after making quick work of Mankato East on its first drive the week prior, but Mankato West had other ideas.

The Scarlets quickly answered with a 75-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Osborne Lorenz to slot receiver Ayden Betts that tied the game at 7-7 early in the first quarter.

Betts was able to find the endzone by beating Owatonna safety Nolan Johnson on a post route from the slot and racing down the away sideline as Johnson missed his diving attempt to bring him down before the goal line.

Owatonna’s next drive was stopped quickly, allowing Mankato West to build on its newfound momentum.

The Scarlets wasted no time building their first lead of the game on a 53-yard rushing touchdown by Lorenz.

Despite a solid rush by the Huskies’ defensive line, Lorenz managed to bounce the ball outside of his left tackle and find space down the home sideline.

The Scarlets quarterback made Owatonna senior captain Nolan Rolloff miss his tackle as he crashed down from his safety position, and one key block from a wide receiver later, Lorenz was free down the sideline to put the Scarlets up 14-7.

Mankato West held its one-score lead into the second quarter while Owatonna searched for answers on both sides of the ball.

The Huskies’ offense struggled to find a balance between its passing and running games, mostly due to inefficiencies with trying to run the ball against the Scarlets’ physical defensive line.

Meanwhile, Mankato West benefited from one more explosive-play touchdown to wrap up the first half with Lorenz finding wide receiver Evan Senske on a 28-yard passing strike.

The Owatonna defensive line created pressure on Lorenz as the Scarlets’ quarterback was forced to roll out to his right, but a jump-ball pass was caught by Senske in the endzone.

The Huskies responded well after the half by shutting down the Scarlets’ offense for the entire third quarter and earned their second touchdown of the game on a pick-six play by Cooper Routh to cut Mankato West’s lead to 21-14.

Owatonna’s chances at winning still looked promising with just a one-score deficit heading into the fourth quarter, but Mankato West played its best football when it mattered most.

The Scarlets continued to shut down the Huskies’ offense by forcing multiple interceptions and cashed in on offense in with two touchdowns and a field goal to outscore Owatonna 17-0 in the final 12 minutes.

The Scarlets’ final touchdowns came on a few more big plays with 26- and 32-yard rushing scores rounding out the game’s scoring.

Owatonna’s offense found relative success through the air with Tackmann earning 155 yards on 13 completions with a touchdown and two picks, but running the ball proved problematic.

The Huskies finished the game with just 86 yards on 25 attempts; good for 3.4 yards per carry.

Up next or Owatonna is a home showdown against Northstar – South-Maroon division foes Rochester Century at Federated Field on Friday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m.

The Panthers enter the game 1-1 overall and are coming off of a close 14-7 loss against a tough Chaska squad that beat Rochester Mayo 7-3 in the opening week.

Player Stats

Owatonna

Passing

#7 Aedan Tackmann – 13/22 155 yards 1 TD 2 Int.

Rushing

#20 Lance Wagner – 3 att. 31 yards; #26 Zach Roesner – 3 att. 15 yards; #21 Kade Hullopeter – 12 att. 15 yards; #7 Tackmann – 4 att. 13 yards; #22 Carson Bock – 3 att. 12 yards

Receiving

#1 Cooper Routh – 4 rec. 71 yards; #88 Ashton Wilkemeyer – 3 rec. 35 yards; #8 Lee Smith – 4 rec. 33 yards; #2 Nolan Rolloff – 1 rec. 7 yards; #26 Roesner – 1 rec. 5 yards 1 TD