2 weeks Ago By Herald Sports Desk
PEMBINA, N.D. — Cavalier football coach Brady Laxdal had a simple message to his team before Saturday’s North Dakota 9-man second round rematch against North Border.
“Win and go home,” he said. “Plain and simple.” ADVERTISEMENT The Tornadoes did just that, beating the Eagles 44-14 two weeks after North Border beat Cavalier by 10 points on the same field.
The Tornadoes were up 12-0 early, but a 67-yard touchdown pass from North Border quarterback Grant Cosley to Weston Cosley cut Cavalier’s lead to 12-8 in the second quarter. Less than three minutes later, Cavalier quarterback Breckon Thorpe found Ryan Pelletier for a 65-yard touchdown, giving the Tornadoes a 20-8 lead. Thorpe found Pelletier again for a 38-yard score to take a 28-8 lead into halftime.
“We were physical up front,” Laxdal said. “Even when they swung back and had a couple big plays, we were able to keep our composure, just stay with the next-play mentality. We tackled pretty well.
The Cosley kids are slippery. They are tough to tackle one-on-one, and we were able to do that for the most part.” North Border’s second score was a 68-yard pass from Grant Cosley to Weston.
Cavalier will play No. 4 Linton-HMB-SZ in the 9-man state quarterfinals next Saturday, Nov. 2 in Linton.
ADVERTISEMENT “Just got to keep doing what we're doing,” Laxdal said. “We're going to focus on us. Focus on playing fast and executing our game plan to the best of our abilities.
” New Rockford-Shey.-Maddock 46, North Prairie 8 A year after winning its first 9-man state championship, North Prairie won’t advance to the quarterfinals. The Cougars lost to No.
2 New Rockford-Sheyenne-Maddock 46-8 in New Rockford Saturday. “I thought we tackled better than we did the first time around,” North Prairie coach Josh Keller said. “We knew going into the game we were going to have to roll the dice and play some Cover 0, which opens you up to some deep pass plays, and a great team like that, they were able to hit on those.
“They were an extremely athletic team. I mean, they've got what it takes to make a deep run in the playoffs. They've got depth, they've got talent.
We knew it was going to be a tough matchup going in, but like I said, I thought we improved from the first time we played them. The score kind of reflected that.” North Prairie finished the year 7-3 with its only losses to New Rockford and No.
5 North Border. ADVERTISEMENT “It was a fun season,” Keller said. “We lost some great players last year, and we’ll lose some great ones this year.
Just thank the seniors for upholding the standard of the program. It’s not always about winning state titles. It's about just that continued success, which is reflected in how the boys work and show up and have a great attitude every day.
” Division A: Langdon-Edmore-Munich 27, Oakes 24 Langdon-Edmore-Munich had to turn to its freshman backup quarterback, Eastyn Schaefer, for its opening-round game against Oakes. Schaefer delivered. The Cardinals beat Oakes 27-24 in the Division A playoffs.
“I just liked our resolve,” Langdon coach Josh Krivarchka said. “We just kept on competing. We had our backup quarterback playing today, and he competed at a high level and gave us a chance to win.
That's all you can ask for from a freshman starting at quarterback.” Schaefer went 9-for-21 for 121 yards and a touchdown in the win. He ran 21 times for 60 yards and a score.
Tanner Macdonald had three catches for 79 yards and a touchdown, and Cody Amble made four catches for 81 yards and a score. ADVERTISEMENT “It was a typical playoff football game where it basically came down to which team made big stops and didn't turn the football over,” Krivarchka said. “I thought we forced a few turnovers and made some big stops at the end of the football game.
” No. 6-seeded Langdon will travel to No. 3 Killdeer for a Division A quarterfinal matchup Saturday, Nov.
2. “I truly believe that if you get this far in the playoffs, you have to play good football, and it's anybody's football game,” Krivarchka said. “We just have to prepare well, get healthy and let the chips fall where they may.
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