The Faribault Falcons dominated line play on both sides of the ball in a convincing 21-10 win over the Owatonna Huskies at Bruce Smith Field on Friday night.

Owatonna came into the game with an identical record as Faribault 1-1, losing their opener to Mankato West and dominating Rochester John Marshall in their second game while the Falcons lost their opener in Rochester against the Mayo Spartans and throttled Red Wing last weekend.

Owatonna received votes in the Associated Press Minnesota High School Football Coaches Poll in Class 5A but did not crack the top 10.

The Huskies offensive line averaged 236 pounds compared to the Falcon defensive front average of 211. Faribault's offensive line averaged 223 pounds per man and the defensive front of Owatonna averaged 258. But without a doubt, the Falcons dominated in the trenches.

Owatonna head coach Jeff Williams said after the game, "Faribault executed a great game plan. Controlling the football and the clock and clearly was better at the line of scrimmage."

The game did not start well for the Falcons.

They received the opening kickoff and set up at the 22-yard line and on the third play fumbled the football. Owatonna's Brett Solie recovered it and the Huskies had a short field with the ball at the Faribault 35.

The Falcon defense forced a three and out and took over at the 20-yard line after a punt went into the end zone.

Faribault couldn't get anything going offensively though and had to punt. The ball didn't travel very far and Owatonna set up at the 25 of Faribault.

An offensive false start marched the Huskies back and on a second and 11 Felipe Ramirez stood in front of a pass and brought it out to the 30-yard line.

The Falcons' first play was a 26-yard run by Joe Jackson.

After sputtering a couple of downs, senior quarterback Kade Hart picked up a huge first down with a 12-yard run. Ramirez then carried the ball five of the next six plays and capped off a 10-play, 70-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown run with 1:25 to go in the first quarter.

The extra point kick was blocked and Faribault led 6-0.

Owatonna answered with a nice drive of their own capped off by a Jacob Gauthier touchdown pass to Dalton Kubista of 14 yards with 6:22 to go in the half. The extra point was good and the Huskies led 7-6.

That was the last lead they would enjoy and they didn't get to savor it very long.

Hart scored on a 70-yard option play. The Falcons went for two and were unsuccessful and Faribault's lead was 12-7 at the half.

Owatonna had the ball to start the second half and went right down the field but Faribault's defense stiffened and the Huskies had to settle for a 27-yard field goal by senior Aidan Buryska with 7:17 to go in the third quarter.

The score was Faribault 12, Owatonna 10. That might have been the defensive stand of the game and the Falcon offense seemed to gain a spark from it.

Faribault would score on a double handoff with Ryan Teske taking it to the house from 46 yards out. Junior kicker Cade Kletschka connected for the extra point and the Falcons led 19-10.

Twice more Faribault had the ball inside the 10-yard line and didn't score but ate up precious minutes off the clock.

The last Falcon score came on a sack of the quarterback in the end zone by senior Chase Ernste for a safety with seven seconds to go in the game. It was the exclamation point on a dominant Faribault performance over a very good Owatonna Huskies team.

Unofficially I had Felipe Ramirez with 148 yards on 31 carries and a touchdown. Kade Hart tallied 110 yards on seven carries and had a score. Joe Jackson collected 42 yards on five carries.

My very unofficial statistics had Faribault with 357 yards on the ground and 26 via the pass for 383 total yards and Owatonna was held to 163 total yards on the ground and 55 through the air for 218 total offensive yards.

Our Faribault State Farm Insurance agents Faribault players of the game were Ramirez, Hart, Teske and the offensive linemen of Sam Jasinski, Connor Leet, Christian Weber, Derek Leroy, Hunter Gare and tight end Chase Ernste. Defensively Taylor Borgstahl, Jack Grevois, TJ Hunt and Cody Ehlers were chosen.

The Falcons are now 2-1 and go to Mankato East next Friday. Owatonna falls to 1-2 and travels to Northfield next Friday night.

Midfield 'F' at Bruce Smith Field- photo by Gordy Kosfeld
Midfield 'F' at Bruce Smith Field- photo by Gordy Kosfeld
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