2024 Football, Class AAAAA Semifinals: Alexandria Area 42, Owatonna 20
Posted: Saturday, November 16, 2024 - 11:36 PM
Alexandria Area senior quarterback Chase Thompson is savoring the final games of his prep football career.
The 6-foot-8, 215-pounder took to the air again and put on a show on Saturday, Nov. 16 in the final contest of the 14-game semifinal schedule of the Minnesota State High School League’s Football State Tournament at U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis. He completed 24 of 38 passes for 396 yards and five touchdowns to send the Cardinals to a 42-20 victory over Owatonna in the Class AAAAA semifinal that lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes and finished about an hour before the clock turned to Sunday.
The victory sends the Cardinals (10-2) into the Class AAAAA Prep Bowl Championship Game on Saturday, Nov. 23 against Elk River (11-1), a run-heavy team that is equally entertaining. It is Alexandria Area’s first appearance in a football championship game since 1994 when it was the Class AA runner-up. The Cardinals won the Class A championship in 1974 in the pre-Prep Bowl Era.
Thompson, who has committed to play basketball at Clemson University, came out flinging the ball all around the field in sending Alexandria Area to a 28-14 lead at the break. He also scored on a 1-yard touchdown run. Senior wide receiver Mason Gorghuber had half of his four touchdown receptions in the first quarter. He finished with 12 receptions for 235 yards, including a 53-yarder.
Owatonna had pulled to within that margin at the half when senior linebacker Blake Davis returned a Thompson interception 33 yards for a touchdown with seven seconds left in the half.
