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LeRoy-Ostrander overwhelms Fertile-Beltrami, cruises to victory in Nine-Man final

By PATRICK JOHNSON, Special to the Star Tribune, 11/27/21, 9:45AM CST

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Quarterback Chase Johnson set a Prep Bowl record for total yards with 412.


Chase Johnson broke loose on his way to a Prep Bowl record for total yards. SHARI. L. GROSS, Star Tribune

The question going into Saturday’s Nine-Man Prep Bowl championship was how to stop LeRoy-Ostrander's senior quarterback/fullback duo of Chase Johnson and Tanner Olson. 

Fertile-Beltrami did not provide an answer.

Johnson, a 5-6, 175-pound, shifty and elusive quarterback and defensive back, and Olson, a brutish, 6-3, 225-pound fullback and linebacker, combined for 522 total yards and eight touchdowns as LeRoy-Ostrander (12-2) rolled to a 58-8 win over Fertile-Beltrami (13-1) in a record-breaking day for the Cardinals.

It was the first Prep Bowl title for LeRoy-Ostrander.

“Does it get any better than this?” LeRoy-Ostrander head coach Trevor Carrier said. “I don’t know.”

Johnson set a Prep Bowl record for total yards in a game, racking up 412  (272 yards rushing and 140 yards passing) while scoring five touchdowns. Olson ran for 110 yards and three touchdowns and made an interception. 

LeRoy-Ostrander accumulated 557 total yards and didn’t have to punt once, scoring on each of its possessions. The Cardinals’ 58 points were the second-most scored by a team in a Nine-Man Prep Bowl game since Rothsay scored 64 points in the first Nine-Man Prep Bowl in 1972.

“I don’t know if you can execute any better than that, especially on the offensive end,” Carrier said.  “Zero punts, 58 points. That’s a good day on the offensive end for sure.” 

Johnson broke the individual total yardage record, topping Cory Hackett’s mark of 401 yards from 1999, on his final run of the game — a 46-yarder— breaking tackles at the line of scrimmage and deking and dodging down the field just before being pulled from the game with 7:05 to play and the Cardinals ahead 55-8. 

When asked about it after the game, Johnson wasn’t aware he'd broken the record.

“That’s crazy,” he said. “But, every time I threw the ball the receivers caught it. There weren’t any dropped balls. And my linemen were always there blocking for me.”

LeRoy-Ostrander went ahead 34-0 before Fertile-Beltrami got on the board and took a 41-8 lead at the half. In addition to Johnson and Olson’s heroics, LeRoy-Ostrander junior Tristan Lewison caught two touchdown passes from Johnson and had 11 tackles and an interception on defense, and senior tight end and defensive end Gavin Sweeney had a receiving touchdown, kicked a 23-yard field goal, was 7-for-7 on extra points and made two sacks. 

“Everyone said that we’re not going to be this good of a team, that we have low numbers and all that, but we worked hard all season and proved ourselves at the end,” Sweeney said. 

First report

The question before Saturday’s Nine-Man Prep Bowl championship was how to stop LeRoy-Ostrander's senior quarterback/fullback duo of Chase Johnson and Tanner Olson. 

Fertile-Beltrami did not have the answer.

LeRoy-Ostrander won 58-8 after taking a 41-8 lead at the half.

Johnson, a 5-6, 175-pound quarterback and defensive back, set a Prep Bowl record for total yards, racking up 412 yards (272 yards rushing and 140 yards passing) while scoring five touchdowns. Olson — a 6-3, 225-pound fullback and linebacker — ran for 110 yards and three touchdowns and had an interception on defense. 

LeRoy-Ostrander had 557 total yards.

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