New Rockford, N.D. (NewsDakota.com)—–The North Prairie Cougars trailed New Rockford-Sheyenne (NRS) 14-8 early in the second quarter and then scored 32 straight points to roll to a 40-14 first round win the N.D. 9-man playoffs. Kaden Jensen (senior running back) for NRS started the scoring on a 63 yard run on the first possession of the game giving the Rockets a 6-0 lead. Jensen would finish the game with 95 rushing yards on 14 carries, 90 of those yards in the first half. The Rockets only other score of the game gave them their last lead at 14-8 when starting quarterback Hayden Meier (junior) converted a 4 down and 15 from the Cougar 17 yard line with a touchdown pass to 8th grader Easton Benz on a diving catch in the endzone. Connor Knatterud added the 2 point conversion with a successful run. Meier finished the game 2 of 6 passing for 68 yards. Jensen added 1 catch for 51 yards. The Rockets were held to a -8 yards of offense in the second half as North Prairie dominated the line of scrimmage.
Cougar starting quarterback Nicholas Mears (junior) accounted for 5 of the 6 scores overall. Mears would haul in 1 reception on the day coming off a double reverse pass from junior wide receiver Mitchell Leas who threw a 26 yard touchdown pass to Mears who was wide open for the first score of the day & with the successful 2 point pass from Mears to senior wide receiver Deryk Thomas gave the Cougars an 8-6 lead with 5:06 to go in first quarter. After the Rockets went ahead 14-8, the Cougars responded with 2 more second quarter scores. Mears first touchdown run of 4, came with 10:41 to go in the first half from 50 yards out, tying the game at 14-14. Mears added a 75 yard run with 2:33 to go in the first half giving the Cougars a 22-14 halftime lead after Mears 2 point pass to Leas.
Mears would add 2 more touchdown runs in the third quarter from 22 yards & 4 yards and finished the game with 24 carries for 224 yards and 4 touchdowns. Mears also completed 7 of 13 passes for 128 yards, a total of 378 yards from scrimmage on the day overall.
Tyrell Yoder (senior running back) added 53 rushing yards on 13 carries and sophomore running back Blake Mattson added 5 carries for 36 yards including a 11 yard touchdown run to cap the scoring with 2:36 to go in the game. Leas was the leading receiver in the game hauling in 4 passes for 84 yards and was also 1 of 1 passing for 26 yards and the touchdown to Mears. Mattson added 2 catches for 26 yards as well.
North Prairie will travel to Bottineau next Saturday for the 2nd round of the playoff with a 6-3 overall record and the Rockets finish the season at 5-4 overall.