A season of living dangerously caught up with Elk River.

Owatonna, a team with speed to burn and a chip that has been glued to its collective shoulder for more than a year, dominated the Elks in just about every phase of the game en route to a 63-26 victory in the Class 5A championship game Saturday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

With an offense accustomed to putting up large amounts of points, Elk River has been able to afford to have a defense that leaks. But it forces the Elks to do a balancing act with the lead as the offense can rarely afford a drive that doesn’t result in points.

“Our margin for error is that if we didn’t finish our drives, it’s tough,” Elk River coach Steve Hamilton said. “Our defense played their tails off, but that’s the best football team in Class 5A. They took it to us.”

Owatonna, which had played Elk River tough in the 2016 state semifinals only to fall 19-7, held Elk River’s vaunted ground attack in check for much of the game. The Huskies held the Elks, who had rushed for 700 yards in their semifinal victory over Apple Valley, to a relatively paltry 333 yards on the ground, many of those after the game was already out of reach.

“We always had it in the back of our minds that Elk River was there and we would probably be playing them in the finals and we wanted to come out with a victory,” Owatonna nose tackle Kadyn Mulert said.

Meanwhile, the Huskies offense found plenty of room to move, with ultra-swift running back Jason Williamson leading the charge. Williamson carried the ball 23 times for 213 yards and five touchdowns and added a heads-up 67-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the first half that quickly negated the Elks’ only lead of the game. Williamson's six touchdowns tied the Prep Bowl record for the most combined touchdowns in a game.

Owatonna (12-1) finished with 441 yards of total offense. It did not turn the ball over and was forced to punt just once.

And the Owatonna defense found success stopping Elk River’s vaunted running game. With Mulert bogging down the middle – Owatonna coach Jeff Williams called him “our defensive tackle-slash-root pig,” referring to Mulert’s down-and-dirty play -- the swarming Huskies kept the Elks bottled up.

“Our kids did a great job of just staying true to their reads and their keys and believing in themselves,” Williams said.

Owatonna took control midway in the second quarter with touchdown runs by Williamson and Havelka for a 28-14 halftime lead. The Huskies sealed the victory with two more touchdowsn in an eight-second span early in the third quarter -- a 43-yard run by Williamson and a 27-yard scoop-and-score by Tucker Alstead off an Elk River fumble.

Owatonna, its offense running efficiently and its defense shutting down a big-play offense, defeated Elk River 63-26 to win the Class 5A championship.

The Huskies' Jason Williamson rushed for 213 yards and five touchdowns and added a sixth on a kickoff return for Owatonna (12-1), which won its second 5A title in the last five years. The Huskies won the championship in 2013.

The victory also afforded Owatonna a measure of revenge on defending champion Elk River (11-2), which ended the Huskies' season in the 2016 semifinals. 

Check back later for more on the game.