St. Agnes football coach Sam Thompson knew Norwood Young America was an offensive juggernaut, having averaged 49 points a game in their first nine outings.

Turns out the Raiders can play defense as well.

Norwood Young America recorded three turnovers, one of which ended up as a touchdown, in a 33-7 win against the St. Agnes Aggies in a Class 2A, Section 4 semifinal game at Sea Foam Stadium in St. Paul on Saturday night.

The Raiders (10-0) advanced to the section championship game against fourth-seeded Cannon Falls (8-2) at Watertown-Mayer on Friday. The Bombers eliminated top seed Rush City 41-12 earlier in the day. It will be a rematch of last year’s section semifinal game won by Cannon Falls 52-30.

Norwood Young America quarterback Jack Strickfaden, a senior, did his part offensively, running for a pair of scores and passing just enough to keep the Aggies at bay. Running backs Hunter Sudheimer and Trevin Hermann also found the end zone for the Raiders.

But it was a defensive play that turned the tide.

Norwood Young America, the third seed, were leading 14-7 late in the second quarter, but the Aggies were on the move and faced a fourth-and-3 at the Raiders 24-yard line.

St. Agnes had been rotating Joshua Lopez and Nathan Dietz at quarterback with success. Now both were on the field at the same time. Lopez took the snap and handed it to Dietz, who looked to throw it to Lopez in the flat. However, Norwood Young America linebacker Taytum Lund smelled the play out, intercepted the pass and ran it back 75 yards for a score.

A potential tie game was now 20-7 in the Raiders’ favor.

“We got fooled on a play like that earlier in the season,” Norwood Young America coach Chris Goodwin said.

“We were ready for it this time.”

From there, the Raiders’ defense forced three turnovers and held the Aggies in check the rest of the way. Norwood Young America is now one game away from returning to the state tournament for the first time since 2014.

“We’ve been second in the section all year in points allowed,” Goodwin noted. “Tonight, we were too fast sometimes. Runners got past us a couple of times.”

Lopez was the top offensive threat for St. Agnes, rushing 11 times for 75 yards. Nicholas Brownell had a first quarter touchdown for the second-seeded Aggies, who finish the season 6-3.