Owatonna lived up to its second-seed and defeated seventh-seeded Farmington 21-0 in the opening round of Section 1AAAAA play Tuesday, October 25, in Owatonna.
The Huskies (8-1) advanced to the semifinals against third-seeded Rochester John Marshall while the Tigers closed their 2011 season with a final 3-6 record.
The visitors got off on the wrong foot when a short punt into the wind gave the Huskies the ball on the Tiger 30-yard line early in the opening quarter. The winners converted the good fortune into a touchdown and then added another score on a marathon 14-play, 80-yard march in the second period.
The Tigers netted only 53 yards of total offense in the opening two periods. A 26-yard pass play from Darren Beenken to Austin Bassett helped move the ball to the Owatonna 30 in the second period but the drive stalled.
To make things worse, Beenken suffered a neck injury after being hit while throwing late in the second period and did not step on the field after intermission.
Owatonna added its third touchdown early in the third period on a 40-yard pass play to close out the night's scoring.
Tyler VanWinkle took over for Beenken in the second half and got a rude welcome to varsity play. The sophomore signal caller completed just one of seven passes for three yards and was sacked for 24 yards of losses. The entire Tiger offense generated just 10 yards over the final 24 minutes.
"I thought our team competed well and worked hard throughout the game," coach Mark Froehling said. "Our defense played well and gave up only 260 yards but it was tough for us to move the ball against their tough front line and athletic defensive backs."
Beenken finished with thee completions in nine attempts for a season-low 36 yards. Farmington gained a net of just 30 yards rushing for a game total of 66 yards of offense.
The defense had a busy night with Drew Hegseth and Blake Weinand totaling 15 and 14 tackles respectively. Kevin Clifton had 11 stops and Alex Chadwick eight.
