No. 1-ranked Mankato West thumps Owatonna

 

MANKATO WEST 42, OWATONNA 0

MANKATO — Assuming Mankato West watched film of Owatonna’s first two games, it saw a young team that was prone to missed tackles and a defense that had been frequently gashed for explosive plays on the ground.

So, what did the Scarlets draw up on their first play of the game? A deep vertical route to their stud Division I wide receiver, of course.

Allowing a long touchdown on the opponent’s opening snap for the second time in three outings to start the season, the under-manned Owatonna football team simply had no answers for the state’s No. 1-ranked squad in Class 5A and lost on Friday night in a Big Southeast District Red Division contest at Todnem Field.

The defeat drops Owatonna to 1-2 for just the second time in the last dozen years and featured many of the same miscues and shortcomings that plagued the team in Weeks 1 and 2. The ever-evolving offensive line continued to struggle protecting the quarterback — allowing five sacks through the first three quarters —and the Huskies once against surrendered multiple 50-plus yard touchdowns, both of which came in the first four minutes of the opening quarter.

West’s first long TD spanned 80 yards and featured a perfectly spun bomb down the right sideline from lefty Zander Dittbenner to North Dakota State recruit Mehki Collins on the first play from scrimmage. On West’s next offensive possession, Dittbenner spotted a wide gap in the OHS defense after dropping back to pass and tucked the ball in before knifing through the secondary for a 58-yard scamper, dashing into the end zone nearly untouched. The score was one of four back-breaking fourth down conversions for the Scarlets throughout the game. In fact, two of their six touchdowns came on fourth down and three conversions started at least seven yards behind the chains.

Dittbenner accounted for five touchdowns — four passing and one rushing — and threw for a season-high 193 yards, nearly equaling his total of 210 yards from the first two weeks in just three quarters of playing time. Collins accounted for the majority of the Scarlets’ receiving production with 129 yards on seven receptions.

Perhaps staggered by West’s opening salvo, the Owatonna offense had one of its least-productive outings in recent memory — accumulating just 37 total yards before filtering in the reserves early in the fourth quarter — and leaves an already snake-bitten team with a number of lingering questions as they hobble toward the mid-point of the regular season.

 “We know where we need to be and where we need to get to,” Owatonna coach Jeff Williams said moments after the game. “We just have to figure out our path to getting there.”

Serving as the Huskies’ third-string quarterback just three weeks ago, Cael Dowling made his first career start in place of the newly-injured Taylor Bogen, who had started the first two games in place of the injured Grant Achterkirch. Dowling completed just one pass beyond seven yards and was frequently hounded by a Mankato West front seven that averaged a healthy 6-foot-2 and 216 pounds per player amongst the five starting linemen and two linebackers.

Much like Rochester John Marshall and New Prague in the first two weeks, Owatonna was unable to gain any semblance of a rushing attack against the Scarlets and finished with just 40 rushing yards, not counting sacks. The Huskies were held to zero or negative yards on seven of its 27 total carries.

Coming into the game, West had surrendered exactly one yard on the ground all season.

“You know, the (offensive) line is going to be a work in progress,” Williams said. “It’s going to take our kids some time to gel. The answer is repetitions and experience. And you can’t rush that. It’s like trying to age wine — it has to age on its own and it will take repetitions and those kids will gain experience.”

For as many continued struggles the Huskies endured, there were a few hints that they might be heading in the right direction in a number of key areas, particularly on defense. Unlike Owatonna’s first two opponents that scored a combined six touchdowns on drives of four or fewer plays, the Scarlets were forced to grind out long possessions and convert on a number of pivotal downs to find paydirt after the explosive start.

On the Scarlets’ 14-play scoring drive in the second quarter, they converted two third downs and one fourth-and-10 that ended with a back-breaking 11-yard touchdown reception by Brady Haugum to up the Scarlets’ advantage to 20-0 with 6 minutes, 22 seconds left in the second quarter. Though it likely wouldn’t have changed the overall outcome, had the Huskies been able to come up with a stop on the play, things could have evolved much differently moving into halftime.

Additionally, Owatonna held one of the best running backs in the district, Walker Britz, to just 54 yards on 14 carries for a 3.8 per-carry average. Entering the night, the well-built, 6-1, 195-pound senior had rung up 218 yards on 22 carries in two games.

The return of all-state linebacker, Grant Achterkirch, helped solidify things up front and players like Drew Kretlow and Owen Beyer made big plays all over the field. Kretlow swung Dittbenner to the ground for a 9-yard loss to account for the Huskies’ only sack and Beyer continued to flash the ability to one day evolve into a legitimate lock-down cornerback, if he hasn’t already. One play in particular that exhibited his wide range of coverage skills came in the third quarter when he out-maneuvered the 6-4 Collins high in mid-air and wrestled the ball away on a fade pattern in the end zone to force an incompletion. Beyer is a sophomore and stands roughly 6-1.

“The kids hung tough on defense and made them use all four downs,” Williams said. “Did we come up and make a play every single time? No, and obviously the scoreboard shows that. But our defense hung in there tough and I was really pleased with that.”

After the score reached 42-0 on the first play of the fourth quarter on a Dittbenner pass to Aiden Corbett, both teams utilized their second-string units on the ensuing OHS possession and the Huskies finally showed some life on offense. With sophomore quarterback Jacob Ginskey piloting the offense, Owatonna manufactured a 16-play drive that was highlighted by long third down receptions by junior Carter Johnson for 18 yards and sophomore Caleb Hullopeter for 38 yards. Ginskey finished 2-for-6 for 56 passing yards and rushed the ball twice for 10 yards.

“Those kids worked hard all week,” Williams said of the reserves. “We gave them some reps and saw what they’re capable of doing. Johnson did some good things and I thought Ginskey did a nice couple things. We got a few more reps for our young linemen, too, and that is always a positive. You know, the fourth quarter went fast and we held the ball for most of it, so that’s a positive.”

After playing two undefeated state-ranked teams in three weeks to open the season, the Huskies’ schedule becomes a lot more forgiving moving forward. The team will have an extra day to prepare for winless Austin on Saturday, Sept. 25 at home before traveling to Northfield (2-1) in Week 5 and hosting Rochester John Marshall (1-2) in Week 6. The Raiders squeaked past the Packers in Week 1, 21-20, lost by four touchdowns to state-ranked Rochester Mayo a week later and defeated the Rockets 31-7 on Friday night. John Marshall lost to West, 61-0, to open the season and beat Austin 32-12 in Week 2.

THE SLANT

Over-matched against the best Class 5A team in the state, Owatonna simply wasn’t in a position from a physical standpoint to trade blows with the experienced, deep and massive Scarlets.

Owatonna: 1-2 overall, 1-2 Big Southeast District

Mankato West: 3-0 overall, 3-0 Big Southeast District

NOTES

Of the 22 total starting positions for Mankato West, 18 were occupied by seniors and the massive group  accounted for more than 90% of the team’s overall offensive production and 5 of the 6 TDs...The Huskies had no more than five seniors on the field at any given time and deployed five sophomores throughout the game…After Friday night, the Scarlets are now averaging 48 points per game and have allowed one touchdown in 12 total quarters…Owatonna’s preseason all-state running back and Week 1 starting linebacker, Conner Grems, suited up after missing Week 2 with an ankle injury, but did not start and only saw the field sparingly in the second half on defense only …Two-way senior contributor, Isaac Peterson (OL/DL), did not play for the first time this season due to injury and joined quarterback Bogen, reserve lineman Isaac Miller and junior receiver Justin Gleason on the DNP list.

Mankato West 42, Owatonna 0

OWA     0 0 0 0—0

WEST    14 14 7 7—42

FIRST QUARTER

MW—Mehki Collins 80 pass from Zander Dittbenner (kick fail), 11:50; 6-0

MW—Dittbenner 58 run (Collins from Dittbenner), 8:29; 14-0

SECOND QUARTER

MW—Brady Haugum 10 pass from Dittbenner (Drew Smook kick), 6:22; 21-0

MW—Walker Britz 7 run (Smook kick), 1:08; 28-0

THIRD QUARTER

MW—Ethan Johnson 12 pass from Dittbenner (Smook kick), 4:52; 35-0

FOURTH QUARTER

MW—Aidan Corbett 7 pass from Dittbenner (Smook kick), 11:56; 42-0

OWATONNA LEADERS

Passing: Cael Dowling 4-for-6, 9 YDS, 0 TD, 0 INT; Jacob Ginskey 2-for-6, 56 YDS, 0 TD, 0 INT

Rushing: Dylan Maas 13 carries, 16 YDS; Ginskey 2 carries, 10 YDS

Receiving: Caleb Hullopeter 1 catch, 38 YDS; Carter Johnson 2 catches, 18 YDS; Nick Williams 2 catches, 8 YDS

Defense: Grant Achterkirch 7 tackles; Drew Kretlow 1 sack; Owen Beyer 1 PD;

Special teams: Drew Henson 1 TB

UP NEXT

Week 4: @ vs. Austin, Saturday, Sept. 25

The Packers (0-3): Have put up some decent numbers on offense, but haven’t won a game since Week 2 of last year and are just 5-23 since the 2018 season. The Packers losses this season have come to Northfield, John Marshall and New Prague.

--

Game story and photos by Jon Weisbrod

Photo Album (public Facebook post): https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10100464995264294&set=pcb.10100464995898024

*Statistics are unofficial as of Sept. 17 and will be updated