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A Cougars comeback

TOWNER – North Prairie senior quarterback Brody Cahill put the team on his back.

After going into halftime down 14-0, Cahill scored 18 of North Prairie’s points in the second half to carry the Cougars to a 24-22 comeback victory over Region 4 rival Towner-Granville-Upham.

“Their quarterback, he is something else,” TGU coach Scott Thorson said. “We just didn’t have an answer for him.”

Cahill’s two rushing touchdowns and three successful two-point attempt carries kept North Prairie’s undefeated season alive (5-0). The Titans fall to 3-2 on the season, giving the Cougars the inside track to defend their Region 4 title.

“We control our own destiny,” North Prairie coach Pat Wilkes said. “If we win out, then we win the region. It doesn’t matter what anybody else does.”

Last season, North Prairie beat TGU at home 44-24 in Week 5 and ultimately went undefeated (6-0) in the region to win the Region 4 title. The loss was TGU’s only regular season defeat as they finished second in the region with a 5-1 mark.

For the first 24 minutes, it looked like the Titans were going to get some redemption.

On the opening drive of the game, TGU went with the hurry-up offense and rushed down the field. Quarterback Kolter Schell crossed the goal line from two yards out in less than two minutes after the opening kickoff the two-point conversion failed, 6-0.

From there, both defenses were hard to break down. The TGU and North Prairie offenses kept having drives stall out once they crossed over midfield.

On TGU’s last drive of the first half, it extended its lead with Schnell rolling out of the pocket and finding Lane Bachmeier in the corner of the end zone. Schell ran in the two-point conversion to make it a 14-0 lead.

“We didn’t play very well in the first half and we told them that,” Wilkes said.

Cahill took the message to heart. His scoring outburst started with a four-yard touchdown run to start the second half.

TGU running back Shayden Luna responded with a two-yard touchdown run on the Titans’ following drive.

Cahill couldn’t be tackled in the fourth quarter, however, as he ran wild for one more touchdown from six yards out. Gabe Leonard also ran one in from two yards out. With 4:18 left, Cahill reached the ball across the pylon on the two-point conversion to give North Prairie a 24-22 lead.

With less than two minutes left and TGU into North Prairie territory, senior linebacker Garrett Munro intercepted a Schell’s pass to seal the Cougars’ victory.

Alex Eisen covers Minot High School, Minot State athletics and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

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