HERMANN — Snapping a 28-game losing streak dating back to 2023 after their 26-12 win over St. James last week, Randy Crowe’s Owensville Dutchmen football team looked to snap another streak last Thursday night in the annual Gasconade County Bowl football game against Hermann’s Bearcats at Bearcat Memorial Stadium.

Entering the game having lost five straight games to Hermann, Crowe’s Dutchmen looked to take the redesigned trophy back to Owensville after it was broken last fall.

Trailing 28-27 entering the third quarter, Dutchmen senior quarterback Chase Crosby scored a pair of rushing touchdowns helping the orange and black to a 43-28 victory over their county rivals to the north in Hermann’s Bearcats.

“I’m so proud of how hard we played in spite of some adversity along the way,” Crowe said. “We could have easily went down when we fell behind but we punched back and reclaimed the trophy.”

After Hermann deferred to the second half, Owensville received the opening kickoff and drove down the field to score first.

Crosby capped the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run with 7:17 for the first quarter. Khai Krupp’s extra-point kick gave the orange and black an early 7-0 lead.

Using his legs on the first drive, Crosby used his arm to add to Owensville’s point total later in the first quarter.

Crosby found Cohen Dare on a 41-yard TD strike at the 2:39 mark of the opening quarter.

Following Krupp’s missed extra point, Owensville took a 13-0 lead into the second quarter.

Adding to his receiving touchdown from the first quarter, Dare found the end zone on a 67-yard TD run with 2:07 until halftime.

Crosby then found Krupp for the two-point conversion pushing Owensville’s lead to 21-0 near the end of the first half.

Hermann then used an Owensville turnover to score two touchdowns in a span of :24 late in the second quarter trimming Owensville’s halftime lead to 21-14.

Senior wide receiver turned running back Tayven Hopkins scored from 8 yards out for Hermann at the 6:38 mark of the third quarter to tie the game at 21-21 following Carter Humphrey’s kicked extra point.

Just over two minutes later, the orange and black answered when Crosby scored from a yard away giving Owensville a 27-21 lead at the 4:07 mark of the third quarter.

In about the same amount of time it took the Dutchmen to answer the Bearcats, Hermann reclaimed the lead when freshman quarterback Miles Eikermann found Hopkins on a 66-yard TD strike with 1:23 for the third quarter.

Humphrey’s kick gave Hermann the lead back at 28-27 entering the fourth quarter.

Minutes into the fourth quarter, Crosby found the end zone for the second time on the ground from 36 yards away with 9:28 remaining.

His pass for two points to Krupp gave OHS a 35-28 lead.

Crosby struck again on Owensville’s next possession on a 3-yard TD run with 5:10 left in regulation. His run for two points gave the orange and black their final margin of victory.

For the game, Crosby was 10-17 passing for 166 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for 120 yards on 17 carries and three more touchdowns.

Liam Rasmussen also reached the century mark in rushing yardage with 116 yards rushing on nine carries.

Dare went over 100 all-purpose yards thanks to 76 yards rushing on four carries and 64 receiving yards on three receptions.

He also had a touchdown on the ground and through the air.

Krupp nearly eclipsed 100 yards receiving finishing with 90 yards on six catches.

Cael Walker added 28 yards rushing on the ground on seven carries.

Showing the way offensively for Owensville, Crosby also led the defense with 13 total tackles, a forced fumble, fumble recovery and the game-clinching interception late in the fourth quarter.

Wyatt Lewis added five total tackles to go along with a sack and a forced fumble leading to seven of Owensville’s points in the first half.

Evan Reed added four solo stops while George Wnuk and Rylee Schuchardt both added three total tackles.

Krupp recorded two total tackles and a pass break up while the Dutchmen sextet of Peyton Pohlmann, Dare, Walker, CJ Perkins, Payten Pendleton and Max Hetsch each recorded a tackle.

Ending the regular season at 2-7, Owensville will travel to Washington to face the St. Francis Borgia Knights in opening round action of the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 3, District 4 Tournament on Friday, Oct. 30 with a 7 p.m., kickoff.