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A ROCHESTER ROMP

10/07/2022, 11:00pm CDT
By Jon Weisbrod

Owatonna’s experience no match for youthful Rockets in explosive victory at John Drews Field

ROCHESTER — For the uninitiated, Owatonna and Rochester John Marshall wasted no time offering an unvarnished glimpse into the state of their respective football programs while providing appropriate context to their overall aspirations for the upcoming MSHSL postseason.

The stark contrast between the teams began unfolding on the game’s opening kickoff and was ultimately wrapped into a neat 12-play, 3-minute, 46-second package that took exactly six offensive snaps by each team to fully-reveal itself.

One side of the dichotomy was clearly fine-tuning specific components as a team and showing its strength and experience as a program.

The other was Rochester John Marshall.

The show began with the Rockets taking the ball first and promptly marching across midfield on just three plays, picking up 20 yards through the air and another 15 yards on the ground.

John Marshall, though, eventually found itself treading water in No-Man’s Land and staring at a 4th-and-short situation at the OHS 38 yard line. Situated well out of field goal range, yet securely in position to perhaps pin the Huskies deep in their own territory with a well-placed punt, the Rockets chose Option C and kept their offense on the field.

Needing three yards to gain a first down, John Marshall first attempted to draw Owatonna offsides with a hard-count. When that didn’t work, they shifted to Plan B and snapped the ball with less than a second remaining on the play clock and handed it off to Tyshawn Beane.

Having already gashed Owatonna for 23 yards on the ground, Beane initially appeared to steer toward a flicker of daylight on the right side of the line, but was promptly met by a thicket of Owatonna defenders and was taken to the ground to officially extinguish the play shy of the sticks.

And that was that.

Not only had the Rockets been stuffed on fourth down, but were also flagged for a holding penalty on a play that would prove to be a gloomy premonition of things to come for a team that simply wasn’t in position as a program to spring the trap against the Huskies.

Owatonna, meanwhile, took possession for the first time fresh off an emotional win against Northfield and a week shy of kicking off its final regular season game at the stadium it has called home for almost 100 years.

A zero-yard gain on its first play did little to imbue confidence in an offense that was held scoreless in the final 24 minutes of its narrow win over the Raiders, but Owatonna quickly found its stride and gained 27 yards on a perfectly-spun pass from Jacob Ginskey to Owen Beyer down the left sideline.

Photo by Gary Walter - Connor Grems stretches for a TDFour plays and a little more than two minutes later, Conner Grems was slicing through the JM defense and accelerating into the end zone and officially igniting what would be an explosive performance by the Huskies in a 60-6 Big Southeast District blowout at John Drews Field in Rochester.

Owatonna (4-2 overall, 4-2 Red Division) dominated all three phases of the game and was led on offense by Grems, who scored a career-high four rushing touchdowns while needing just 14 carries to reach 114 yards. The senior workhorse bookended the scoring efforts for the Huskies’ first-string offense, getting his team on the board with an 11-yard run at the 8:14-mark of the first quarter and eventually recording his final touchdown on a 56-yard scamper in the middle of the third to help push the advantage to 46-0. The long TD sprint also provided the audience a rare glimpse into his track-level speed that was clocked at low as 4.55 seconds in the 40-yard dash this past offseason.

“I told you I could,” Grems said with a wide grin when discussing his open-field acceleration moments after the game. “The hole kind of opened up and I was a little more patient. I think it was Torrin (Smith) who pulled through and I just gave the dude a little studder-step and then Torrin cracked him. After that, it was just off to the races.”

That had to be top gear, right?

“Pretty close,” Grems said. “But I think there’s still another level.”

That’s a scary proposition for opposing defenses and, conversely, an encouraging suggestion for an Owatonna offense that appeared to take a discernable step in the right direction against the Rockets in its ongoing effort to strike a healthy balance between the run and the pass.

Not only did quarterback Jacob Ginskey put together his finest performance since Week 1 — shaking off a rough second quarter to finish 9-for-18 for 132 yards to go with two touchdowns and zero turnovers — but receiver Ayden Walter broke out of a monthlong funk that saw last season’s second-leading receiver miss a game with an injury and be held without a reception in two others.

Both of Walters’ catches and all 53 of his yards against John Marshall went for six points as the senior put together his third career single-game, multi-touchdown performance.

“Yeah, you could say I was maybe frustrated coming into the game,” Walter admitted. “I wanted to see the field last week but the coaches wanted me to take it easy and basically give me another week off even though I dressed. Before that, we weren’t really connecting with a lot of the guys across the middle in ways that could have opened space in the defense and attack through the air a little more. It was tough for a little bit, but this was a good bounce-back game and I feel like Ginskey has found his confidence after a bit of a slow start tonight. He found his flow and started hitting us in the second half.”

After mis-firing on all five of his throws in the second quarter, Ginskey was nearly perfect in his abbreviated stint in the second half, his only incompletion coming when Owen Beyer turned his hips a fraction too early and watched as the ball bounced off his hands and spin harmlessly to the grass below. Beyer, though, had his number called one play later and rewarded Ginskey’s confidence by snaring a pass in traffic and moving the sticks for a 15-yard reception.

Two plays later, Ginskey hit Walter in-stride across the middle and allowed his target to glide untouched into the end zone for a 37-yards TD.

“It was wide open across the middle and got one guy to miss,” Walter said. “After that, I didn’t feel anyone behind me. It felt good.”

Owatonna progressively tightened the screws on the youthful Rockets and built a lead that was included two touchdowns apiece in the first two quarters as well as a 39-yard field goal from Drew Henson that helped make it 31-0 at the break.

Owatonna also blocked two punts in the first 24 minutes, forced two turnovers, collected two sacks and didn’t permit a first down for the rest of the half after JM’s opening possession.

 

 

 

 

Vick intercepted his second pass of the season while Drew Kretlow recovered a fumble for the second straight week. Torrin Smith continued his assault on opposing quarterbacks and racked up his sixth sack of the season — one apiece in each of the Huskies’ games so far this season.

“I don’t think we played particularly well in the second half against Northfield or Austin,” Owatonna coach Jeff Williams said. “So that was one of the things we were focused on this week: Finishing the game. Finish what you started, show some tenacity in the second half, show a lot of a killer instinct. And I think we did that tonight.”

As for the reserves, which accounted for roughly 40% of the team’s total time on the field, Ethan Armstrong scored the first of two touchdowns from the second-unit when he hauled-in a perfectly-placed pass from Noah Truelson in the back of the end zone from 14 yards out. The junior now has three catches and two touchdowns in less than a full game of playing time this season.

Dez Nichols finalized Owatonna’s scoring with a 12-yard TD run at the 2:41-mark of the fourth quarter.

Owatonna’s second-unit defense also found a way to make their presence felt, seemingly preserving the shutout after swatting away a pass against the Rockets’ starters on 4th and goal at the 5 yard line. A flag, though, gave the JM another chance and the Rockets eventually scored their second touchdown of the season on a 3-yard run with 6:10 left in the fourth.

“Heck, our twos went out there and for all-intents-and-purposes stopped them at the goal line,” Williams said. “I am proud of those guys too. They stepped up and carried the mantle.”

UP NEXT: Owatonna will play its final regular season home game at the current OHS stadium on Thursday evening against New Prague at 7 p.m. The Trojans lost to Rochester Mayo, 42-14, on Friday to fall to 3-3.

OWATONNA 60, ROCHESTER JOHN MARSHALL 0

FIRST QUARTER

O—Conner Grems 11 run (Drew Henson), 8:14; 7-0 Huskies

O—Ayden Walter 14 pass from Jacob Ginskey (Henson kick), 4:01; 14-0 Huskies

SECOND QUARTER

O—Grems 2 run (Henson kick), 5:27; 21-0 Huskies

O—Henson 39 field goal, 5:27; 24-0 Huskies

O—Grems 7 run (Henson kick), 3:13; 31-0 Huskies

THIRD QUARTER

O—Walter 37 pass from Ginskey (Henson kick), 9:43; 38-0 Huskies

O—Grems 56 run (Jack Strom pass from Peter Swehla), 7:53; 46-0 Huskies

O—Ethan Armstrong 14 pass from Noah Truelson (Ty Svenby kick), 2:38; 53-0 Huskies

FOURTH QUARTER

JM—Gunnar Dokken 3 run (pass fail), 6:10; 53-6 Huskies

O—Dez Nichols 12 run (Svenby kick), 2:41; 60-6 Huskies     

OWATONNA RUSHING—Conner Grems 14-134-4; Drew Kretlow 1-39;  Brennan Sletten 5-12; Mitch Seykora 1-1; Rielly Kleeberger 1-32; Dez Nichols 2-31; Keanan Larson 1-7

OWATONNA PASSING—Jacob Ginskey 9-18-163-2-0; Noah Truelson 1-1-15-1-0

OWATONNA RECEIVING—Owen Beyer 4-71; Grems 1-13; Ayden Walter 2-53-2; Jack Strohm 1-13; Caleb Hullopeter 1-12; Ethan Armstrong 1-15-1

SPECIAL TEAMS—Drew Henson 8 kickoffs, 391 YDS; 1-1 FG (49); 5-5 XTRA PTS

Photos by Gary Walter and Jon Weisbrod

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