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North Prairie expecting more low-scoring quarterfinal matchup

ROLLA — North Prairie football coach Patrick Wilkes had never experienced a game like he had last Saturday.

The Cougars got into a track meet with Mott-Regent/New England, with North Prairie squeaking out a 64-62 victory.

“I’ve been coaching for quite a few years and that was the wildest game I’ve ever been a part of,” Wilkes said. “It was crazy how many points were up. The thing is, if we made our two-point conversions, we would have scored 80. It would have been a little different spread if we just converted that. That game was just two teams moving up and down the field. We just couldn’t stop their running back and it was one of those games they couldn’t stop us.”

However, Wilkes expects the Cougars’ nine-man playoff quarterfinal matchup with New Salem/Glen Ullin to be a much different type of affair.

“New Salem is really good defensively,” Wilkes aid. “This is the third year in a row we’re playing them in the playoffs. So our two teams are pretty familiar with each other.”

The two teams have split their meetings in the last two postseasons. North Prairie won the 2015 second round matchup 38-8, while New Salem defeated the Cougars 38-14 in last year’s semifinals.

“They just reload every year,” Wilkes said. “They have an excellent quarterback. We had been watching him over the year and knew he’d become a good player and he’s become that. They’re a solid team and I don’t really see too many weaknesses.”

North Prairie is no stranger to playoff success, having made the nine-man semifinals last year and the Dakota Bowl in 2015. But after last week’s shootout, Wilkes and the Cougars are going back to the drawing board defensively in hopes of slowing down New Salem’s offense.

“We’ve always said that we want to be a physical team,” Wilkes said. “Last week, we weren’t as physical as we usually like to be. If we’re not able to do that against these guys, we’ll be in trouble.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. today in New Salem.

Garrick Hodge covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @Garrick_Hodge.

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