Huskies look near perfect in win over Panthers
Owatonna’s Cooper Routh makes a leaping catch over a Rochester Century defender. Routh’s 43-yard reception in the first quarter helped set up the Huskies’ first touchdown of the game. Staff photo by Lucas Candullo
The Owatonna Huskies put together their most dominant performance of the season last week in a 34-7 home win over Rochester Century.
Despite the game being moved a day earlier to Thursday, the Huskies looked fully prepared for everything the Panthers threw at them, holding the opposition to just one touchdown over four quarters.
Owatonna opened the game with possession of the ball at its own 25-yard line and immediately went to work establishing the run.
The Huskies chewed away at the Panthers’ defense for multiple first downs before opening up the playbook and taking a shot downfield in the passing game.
Quarterback Aedan Tackmann dropped back and found a wide receiver Cooper Routh streaking down the home sideline, with the latter making a highlight-reel catch over a Panthers’ cornerback for a 43-yard completion to the Rochester Century 16-yard line.
Routh’s big play set up Owatonna with an instant redzone opportunity, which the Huskies cashed in on the very next play when senior tailback Carson Bock found space on a rush up the middle and carried the ball into the endzone from 16 yards out to put Owatonna up 7-0 with 7:11 remaining in the first quarter.
Owatonna held its lead into the second quarter where Rochester Century made its first real mistake of the game on a botched punt.
After the Panthers’ third consecutive failed drive, Rochester Century’s punter launched the ball high into the night sky from his own 18-yard line, but only managed to reach the 50-yard line for a short 32-yard kick.
The result was another short-field opportunity for the Huskies which the team used to score its second touchdown of the game.
All of Owatonna’s positive yards on the scoring drive came from tailback Kade Hullopeter.
Despite two broken plays for six yards in losses on the drive, Hullopeter chained together rushes of 20, 31, three and two yards for the score to put Owatonna up 14-0 with 7:42 left in the half.
Neither side scored again until halftime to keep the Huskies up by two scores with two quarters left to play.
Owatonna kicked off to begin the second half and this time earned some points from its stellar defense.
The Panthers’ first two plays from scrimmage after the break netted just one yard before a desperate third down pass attempt was intercepted by senior captain Nolan Rolloff and returned down the visitors’ sideline for a 50-yard pick six.
Rolloff’s plunge into the endzone put the Huskies up 21-0 with 10:55 left in the frame.
Both offenses were held scoreless for the remainder of the third quarter, but Owatonna threatened to score by moving the ball to the Panthers’ eight-yard line as time expired.
The Huskies used the brief break to dial up the right call and found the endzone on the first play of the fourth on a roll-out pass from Tackmann to Zachary Roesner.
It wouldn’t take long for the Huskies to regain possession as Rochester Century fumbled on the first play of the ensuing drive to give Owatonna the ball back on the Panthers’ 35-yard line.
The Huskies quickly moved the ball downfield and scored their final touchdown of the game on a nine-yard, quick-fade route from Tackmann to Routh in the back corner of the endzone.
Owatonna missed the extra point after the touchdown to lead 34-0 with 9:49 left to play.
Rochester Century went on to score once before time expired, but the damage was already done as Owatonna went on to win 34-7.
The Huskies will hope to stack another win when the team travels to New Prague to face the Trojans on Friday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m.
|
Team |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
|
Rochester Century |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
7 |
|
Owatonna |
7 |
7 |
7 |
13 |
34 |
Player Stats
Owatonna
Passing
#7 Aedan Tackmann – 6/9 85 yards 1 TD
Rushing
#21 Kade Hullopeter – 16 att. 139 yards 1 TD; #22 Carson Bock – 10 att. 48 yards 1 TD; #20 Lance Wagner – 2 att. 27 yards; #13 Arik Tackmann – 3 att. 17 yards; #26 Zachary Roesner – 3 att. 10 yards; #7 Tackmann – 6 att. 5 yards
Receiving
#1 Cooper Routh – 2 rec. 51 yards 1 TD; #88 Ashton Wilkemeyer – 1 rec. 16 yards; #26 Roesner – 1 rec. 7 yards; #8 Lee Smith – 1 rec. 6 yards; #3 Lucas Ginskey – 1 rec. 5 yards
