High school football: Owatonna edges Cretin-Derham Hall in overtime in Class 5A quarterfinal

Six weeks ago, Cretin-Derham Hall was struggling to score consistently and slow down the opposition.

Getting its mojo back with five straight dominant wins, the Raiders faced their toughest test Saturday afternoon: second-ranked Owatonna, an undefeated squad that scores a plethora of points and gives up few.

The Huskies continue to have a blemish-free record. But the Raiders gave them quite the scare.

Nolan Ginskey scored on a two-point conversion in the first overtime, and Owatonna got past Cretin-Derham Hall 22-21 in a Class 5A football quarterfinal at Eastview High School.

“Playing November playoff games against great teams is what you want. It’s incredible,” said Huskies lineman Zach Dahnert. “This is the best team we’ve played.”

Now 11-0, Owatonna will face Alexandria next Saturday in a state semifinal at U.S. Bank Stadium.

“I believe we’re the best team in the state, so we’ve got to go and give it a shot the next couple of weeks,” Ginskey said.

Cretin-Derham Hall (6-5) got the ball first in a rainy overtime, with Ja’Dale Thompson scoring from the 1 for a 21-14 lead.

The Raiders forced Owatonna into a fourth down from inside the 1, but Blake Fitcher scored.

Ginskey had no doubt the Huskies were going for the win.

He got the ball on a sweep to the right, was hit at about the 1 but had enough momentum to get across the goal line just inside the pylon.

“The coaches have put the trust in us all year. … We made a play, and it was awesome,” Ginskey said.

“At the 10-yard line, first and goal, you should score,” said Raiders coach Steve Walsh. “The first play they only got three and we thought, ‘OK, maybe somebody can make a play,’ but they kept pounding it. They were conservative. They gave it to their best player at the end, and he beat our guy to the corner.”

Cretin-Derham Hall was 1-4 as the calendar turned to October but outscored its next five foes by an average of 35.4-8.4 points per game. The Raiders scored at least 34 points in four of those and allowed just double-digits once.

“Things started coming together, confidence builds and it’s so critical with high school kids. Everybody was feeling good and feeling good about themselves. It just mushroomed from there,” Walsh said.

Trailing 14-7, Monteff Dixon had a 56-yard reception from Izaak Johnson to tie the game early in the third quarter.

A Beau Bollinger fumble recovery led to Cretin-Derham Hall getting the lone points of the opening quarter, a 13-yard reception by Brady Stoeklen.

But the Raiders had just two first downs on their next three series that ended in two punts and an Owatonna interception.

“We knew the defense they play was going to give us opportunities, and we felt if we were sharp we would have got a few scores in that first half. And we just missed a little bit,” Walsh said.

A 19-yard screen pass to Zach Haarstad got Owatonna within one, and after
Cretin Derham-Hall went three and out, a 30-yard pass to Ginskey set up a 1-yard run by Tristan Graham for a 14-7 lead.