skip navigation

LANDING PUNCHES

10/31/2021, 12:00am CDT
By Jon Weisbrod

Owatonna out-muscles Northfield, advances to section championship game for sixth consecutive year

By JON WEISBROD I OwatonnaFootball.com

OWATONNA — With Dylan Maas having exhausted Northfield by connecting on a flurry of painstaking body-blows throughout the evening and Nick Williams having delivered on a few staggering haymakers, Owatonna took the field in the middle of the third quarter against a wobbly Raiders team in the Section 1-5A semifinal game on Saturday night.

Twenty-two plays, 69 yards and almost 12 minutes later, the Huskies had their knockout punch

With 6:55 left in the final stanza, Owatonna sent its talented kicker, Drew Henson, onto the field after coming up shy of the sticks on 3rd-and-goal from the 10-yard line with 6:55 left in the fourth quarter. But even before Henson’s kick rocketed through the uprights, Northfield was down for the count. The Huskies had chewed up exactly 11 minutes and 44 seconds off the clock during a merciless scoring march that covered roughly 50% of two separate quarters.

By the time the Raiders got the ball back, there was just 6:49 remaining in a contest they would ultimately lose 33-7 at the OHS stadium.

“The field goal made it a three-score game, so that was critical,” Owatonna coach Jeff Williams said moments after the contest. “Obviously we would have liked to come off with a touchdown, but to get three points and make it a three-possession game with how much time we used on that drive, that pretty much sealed it up.”

The resounding victory — which saw Owatonna score via the pass, the run, a field goal and a safety for the second straight outing against Northfield — thrusts the Huskies into the section championship game for the sixth consecutive year and sets the stage for a rematch against top-seeded Rochester Mayo on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. Mayo found itself tied early in the third quarter against No. 4-seeded Rochester Century and led just 28-21 in the middle of the fourth quarter in its section semifinal game, but exploded for three touchdowns in the final five minutes of the game to secure a 49-29 victory on their home turf.

Next Saturday will mark the second straight season Owatonna and Mayo will meet in the section championship game after also playing in Week 1, only this time the roles are reversed. In 2020, Owatonna was the favorite in both games and swept the Spartans in a pair of see-saw battles at home, holding on for a 30-28 victory in the one-round postseason matchup and winning 42-35 in the regular season opener roughly six weeks prior.

In 2021, though, Rochester Mayo enters the do-or-die showdown ranked No. 6 in Class 5A and sporting a nearly flawless 8-1 record, kicking off its best regular season in almost 20 years by out-slugging Owatonna 58-31 on Sept. 3 in Rochester. This year’s title game will also be at Spartan Stadium

“After that first game, I wouldn’t say we had an easy path to a rematch with them, but we knew it was very possible that we could see Mayo again in the section title game,” Owatonna receiver Nick Williams said. “It feels really good (to get the rematch) because ever since we lost to them, we knew what we needed to do to play them again. They’re a great team and it’s going to be a good game.”

On the field Saturday night, Maas ran with a palpable sense of urgency and rang up 155 yards on 33 punishing carries, steamrolling several Northfield defenders along the way and exploding through sizeable creases provided by his invigorated offensive line.

“I was thinking in my head ‘do or die,’” said Maas, a senior. “It was probably going to me my last game on this field, so I had to give it everything I got. The blocking was really awesome. Those guys are coming together and the holes are opening up, and I’m just busting through.”

Added coach Williams: “The holes were wider, so (Maas) was able to get a head of steam. When he gets stymied, it’s usually because he’s running into the back of somebody at the line of scrimmage either because he’s not hitting the hole, or the holes not there. Tonight, the holes were there, and he hit them hard.”

Another talented senior playing his final game on the natural grass of the OHS stadium, Nick Williams, caught three critical passes for 81 yards and two touchdowns. His first grab didn’t go for six points, but extended the Huskies’ first offensive possession after he out-leveraged his defender high in the air and cradled a one-handed catch for a 25-yard gain on 3rd-and-long.

Williams’ second reception spanned 19 yards and ended when he snatched a laser from Jacob Ginskey across the middle and bounded into the end zone to break a 7-7 tie with 4:50 left before halftime. The touchdown also triggered a steady avalanche of 26 unanswered points by the Huskies and once again came on 3rd-and-long.

“We needed a big play there,” Nick Williams said. “We could have probably kicked the field goal, but touchdowns are always better than field goals. It was a great throw and I just caught it and scored.”

Williams’ third and final catch was also a thing of beauty and concluded Owatonna’s scoring for the night. The touchdown featured an over-the-shoulder grab that sailed into his arms after Ginskey rolled to his right and launched an off-balance bullet down the right sideline that hit Williams in-stride. From there, Ginskey had a great view as his favorite target stopped on a dime, watched as a Northfield defender flew harmlessly to the side before seeing Williams step into the end zone with 4:36 left in the fourth quarter.

“I don’t think he could have thrown the ball anywhere else and have it been completed,” Jeff Williams said. “I would say the same thing about the first touchdown pass. If that ball is anywhere else, it’s not completed. He had a good night. He had time. He was relaxed and comfortable and was able to execute and do his deal.”

Ginskey completed 5 of 10 passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns. He also added a career-high 61 rushing yards and one touchdown on the ground, catching the defense leaning the wrong way and escaping for a 52-yard jaunt early in the third quarter. Five plays later, he pushed forward for a 1-yard touchdown to hand Owatonna its first multi-score lead of the game at 20-7 with 7:58 left in the quarter.

Owatonna tacked on two points on the ensuing possession after Northfield fell on a bad snap in the end zone attempting to punt from its own 15-yard line

The Huskies’ gnarly offensive line paved the way for a season-high 268 rushing yards. Conner Grems complemented Maas’ workman-like performance with 43 yards on just six carries.

“When I’m tired, Conner is going to come in, and he’s a good runner,” Maas said. “He runs hard and it’s always nice to see him get some touches.”

Northfield won the toss and elected to receive the ball to start the game and ultimately lost possession when Collin Vick reeled-in an acrobatic interception that saw the junior tip the ball into his arms while leaping backwards in front of a Northfield receiver.

Owatonna promptly marched 70 yards on 12 plays and grabbed a 6-0 lead when Maas smashed into the end zone from four yards out.

After the teams traded punts, Northfield found itself with the ball near midfield and facing a 3rd-and-22 after Ryley Glassmaker swung Soren Richardson to the ground for his fourth sack of the season. Richardson responded by flinging a perfect spiral into the open arms of sophomore Austin Koep, who snatched the pass deep down field and didn’t miss a step as he galloped into the end zone for a game-tying 54-yard touchdown.

The Huskies countered by manufacturing a 9-play, 65-yard scoring drive that ended with Williams’ first touchdown. Grems busted loose for a season-long 23-yard scamper on the possession.

After completing 9 of 12 passes for 122 yards in the first half, Richardson misfired on five of his first six attempts after halftime and went 2-for-7 for 12 yards in the final 24 minutes.

Owatonna’s stout defense unofficially yielded just 25 rushing yards on 12 attempts, the vast majority of which came on a single 16-yard run in the third quarter. Other than that, Northfield was stuffed for three or fewer yards on 10 carries.

NOTES I Extra stats, details, trends & highlights

Owatonna has now won the last six games against Northfield…At one point in the fourth quarter, the score stood at 26-7 and had followed the exact sequence of scoring from the first meeting in Week 5, all the way down to when the safety occurred within the order of events…Northfield’s Tate Journell was held to just two receptions and did not score after piling up four touchdowns against Austin in the section quarterfinals on Tuesday and accounting for the only touchdown against the Huskies in Week 5.

Owatonna: 6-3 overall

Northfield: 4-6 overall

PRESS COVERAGE I Important details, analysis & narratives

What happened? Having not taken the field since beating Kasson-Mantorville in a downpour nine days prior, Owatonna appeared fresh and played with the moxie of a team that now stands one victory shy of the state tournament.

Where does Owatonna go from here? Owatonna will play for the section championship when it travels to take on top-seeded Rochester Mayo. The winner of that game will advance to the state quarterfinals and face Section 4 champion, which will be either Mahtomedi or Tartan. Both of those teams are outside the top 10 of the QRF and combined for a 10-9 overall record.

UP NEXT I Looking ahead at the upcoming matchup

Section championship: at Rochester Mayo (8-1), Saturday, 7 p.m.

The Spartans: Mayo fended off Rochester Century and broke open a close game by scoring three unanswered touchdowns in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter to win 49-29. The Spartans have just one loss this season and that was to No. 1-ranked Mankato West. They’re fast, explosive and talented across the board.

Owatonna 33, Northfield 7

NHS       0 7 0 0—7

OHS       7 7 9 7—33

FIRST QUARTER

O—Dylan Maas 4 run (Drew Henson kick), 3:12; 7-0 Huskies

SECOND QUARTER

N—Austin Koep 54 pass from Soren Richardson (kick good), 9:13; 7-7 tied

O—Nick Williams 19 pass from Jacob Ginskey (Henson kick), 4:50, 14-7 Huskies

THIRD QUARTER

O—Ginskey 1 run (Henson kick), 7:58; 21-7

O—Safety, Northfield tackled in end zone, 6:39; 23-7

FOURTH QUARTER

O—Henson 27 field goal, 6:55; 26-7

O—Williams 36 pass from Ginskey (Henson kick), 4:36, 33-7

OWATONNA INDIVIDUAL STATS

Passing (COMP-ATT-YDS-TD-INT): Jacob Ginskey 5-10-101-2-0

Rushing (ATT-YDS-TD): Dylan Maas 33-155-1; Conner Grems 5-43; Jacob Ginskey 6-61-1; Dez Nichols 2-8; Porter Kuchenbecker 1-0; Grant Achterkirch 1-1

Receiving (REC-YDS-TD): Nick Williams 3-81-2; Maas 1-6; Achterkirch 1-14

Defense: Collin Vick 1 INT; Ryley Glassmaker 1 sack

Special teams: Henson 1-1 FG; 3-3 extra points; 2 touchbacks

--

Story and photos by Jon Weisbrod

Official statistics courtesy of Owatonna Football

Public album via OwatonnaFootball.com Photos

Tag(s): Home  News  Varsity