Owatonna at Mankato West
5 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 15

Owatonna also cracked the top 10 in the Class 2A coaches’ poll last week after a 3-0 start. But the Huskies (3-0-2, 1-0-1) exited the rankings after back-to-back ties with Rochester Mayo (1-1 on Sept. 10) and Burnsville (2-2 in a back-and-forth game on Sept. 12).

Mark Hanson and Jacob Nelson scored to give Owatonna the lead against the Blaze before Burnsville rallied to tie the game in the second half.

Huskies captain Ryan Guenther scored the equalizer against the Spartans and has three goals on the year. Abukar Fakrudin had three goals in a 5-0 win over Rochester Century, giving him four on the season.

Owatonna reached the state tournament in 2013 and 2014 and should challenge for a return to the section title game, where the Huskies fell to Rochester John Marshall 2-0 last year.

Tuesday’s game will go a long way in determining the Big 9 Conference champion. Mankato West won the conference last season with a 10-1 mark; the Huskies finished tied for third with a 7-2-2 mark.

Jake Makela is scoring goals in bunches for the Scarlets (4-2-1) again this season, despite their early 1-1-1 mark in league play. After going scoreless in the first game, Makela has notched 11 goals and three assists in the next six games. The junior attacker finished with four goals against New Prague and had two against both St. Peter and Willmar. He also had the game-winner in a 1-0 overtime win over Winona on Sept. 12.

Mankato West won last year’s meeting 8-3 with Makela scoring four times.