Going to state!
One game stood between the Owatonna High School football team making it to the state tournament. One team, the Northfield Raiders, was looking to play spoilers and end the Huskies’ season early for the second straight year.
Fortunately for Owatonna, running back Jason Williamson was firing on all cylinders.
Powered by the star sophomore’s four touchdowns, the Huskies rolled over the Raiders 38-20, grabbing both the Section 1-5A title and a trip to the state tournament in the process Friday night at OHS Stadium. Head coach Jeff Williams said that the feeling all weekwas like every other week of practice.
“We had a great week of practice and very frankly, it felt like every other week of practice. They were very business like, they went and got their job taken care of all week, had a great night tonight. I’m just really really proud of them,” he added.
It wouldn’t take long for the Huskies to get into scoring position as Alex Raichle returned a poor Raiders’ punt down to the Northfield 17-yard line. After being stopped just shy of a first down, the Huskies turned to kicker Aiden Buryska, who would convert the 24-yard field goal try to give Owatonna the early 3-0 lead.
Unlike the first matchup between the two schools back in September, the Raiders struck back with a quick three-play 66-yard scoring drive that was capped by Mitchell Stanchina’s 58-yard run.
On the ensuing kick, Huskies’ quarterback Abe Havelka and the offense started to get into a rhythm. Owatonna mounted an 11-play 54-yard drive that was finished by the first of Williamson’s four scores.
After a fumble by Northfield lost 19-yards late in the second quarter, the Huskies needed just two plays with Williamson notching his second score of the contest, giving the Huskies a 17-7 halftime lead.
On the first drive out of the half for Owatonna, Abe Havelka led the Huskies on a quick tw0-play 65-yard drive, connecting with Dalton Kubista for 28 yards before Williamson ended the drive from 37 yards out.
In fact, the first two drives of the half for the Huskies spanned five plays. The second drive featured a 45-yard touchdown pass from Havelka to Brett Solie. The senior captain now has two catches, for 100 yards and two scores on the year. Afterward, the junior quarterback said that while it was tough to not get time earlier in the year, he’s thankful that Williams gave him a shot.
“Being on this field is something I love to do and just not getting that chance kind of sucks, but coach gave me a shot, my team is playing great and we’re heading to state,” he added.
Williamson added the final Huskies’ score just three minutes later, giving the Huskies a 38-7 lead late in the third quarter. He finished with 29 carries for 118 yards and four touchdowns on the night.
Despite the large deficit, the Raiders fought until the clock was all zeros. In their final two possessions of the night, Northfield managed to record 141 yards of offense, most of it from the ground to cut the lead to 38-20.
The win marks for first time since the Huskies won the state championship back in 2013 that Owatonna will be represented in the state tournament. While it was not the dominating performance the Huskies had in the first meeting, the Owatonna defense forced two turnovers and allowed just 6 completions through the air, and had six stops behind the line of scrimmage.
Williams noted afterward that despite being gashed twice, the defense orchestrated a solid performance.
“ They got us twice, and we got a couple of turnovers deep in their territory, so you know, the football gods giveth and the football god taketh away, but our defense played great tonight,” he said.
Owatonna will face Apple Valley at Lakeville North Saturday, at 7 p.m.
Owatonna 38, Northfield 20
Team stats
Passing: O 99, N 137
Rushing: O 220, N 165
Total offense: O 319, 302
Turnovers: O 1, N 2
Huskies individual leaders
Passing: Havelka- 10 for 15, 99 yards, TD, INT; Rushing- Williamson- 29 carries, 118 yards, 4 TD’s; Receiving: Solie- 1 catch, 45 yards, TD
*/