The Owatonna Huskies will square off against the St. Thomas Academy Cadets at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
With a playoff game on the line, Owatonna rose to the challenge on Friday. They claimed a resounding 35-6 win over Northfield on the road. The victory was nothing new for Owatonna as they're now sitting on four straight.
Owatonna got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Jacob Ginskey out in front who threw for 227 yards and two touchdowns while completing 92.3% of his passes, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. The team also got some help courtesy of Brennan Sletten, who rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, St. Thomas Academy was fully in charge on Friday, breezing past Jefferson 43-14 on the road. Given St. Thomas Academy's advantage in MaxPreps' Minnesota football rankings (they are ranked ninth, while Jefferson is ranked 70th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
St. Thomas Academy's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Savion Hart led the charge by rushing for 138 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 7.3 yards per carry. Hart is absolutely dominating the rushing touchdown category: he's posted at least two every time he's taken the field this season. Luke Dobbs was another key contributor, picking up 188 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Their wins lifted both teams to an identical 8-2.
Owatonna suffered a grim 21-0 defeat to St. Thomas Academy in their previous meeting back in November of 2019. Can Owatonna avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
