 Northland made surprisingly short work of the Eagles, who came in as the fourth place team in the district and were looking to gain even more respect by knocking off the first place team. The Cougars never gave them that chance, racing to a 30-0 first quarter lead and never looking back. Once again, Jeff Abt ran the Cougar offensive show with precision while leading an attack that racked up almost 500 yards and 51 FIRST HALF points. He threw 3 TDs (two to Michael Ellisor and one to Colin MacDiarmid) and ran for two more scores, also adding a 2 point pass to Ellisor  and running one in himself. Matt Krob paced the ground attack behind another dominant performance by the offensive line and had 188 yards and three more scores. Add to Matt's list of NCS records the season TD record – he now has 22 total with at least 2 games still left to play. Michael Ellisor tied the season record for receiving yards at 689 and has 10 TDs, two short of Clark Fangmeier's record set last year.
The Black Swarm held the district's #2-ranked offense to a mere 13 points, harassing the Eagles QB all night and putting big hits on  their receivers. Eric Fulco, Alan Hayes, and Garrett Van Dyke each had interceptions and fumbles were recovered by Van Dyke and Stuart Trahan. Matt Krob blocked an extra point. The Eagles never threatened besides their two scores and gained most of their yards between the 30 yard lines.
Kudos to the Eagles for making great strides in the last two years to become a team on the brink of a playoff birth after a rough start to their program in 2002.
The Cougars have now clinched the #1 seed for the playoffs and host a 1-8 Lutheran North team who has yet to win a district game under first year head coach Erik DeHaven. It is Senior Recognition Night, so come out to support the Cougars and say “Thank You” to a great class of guys who have only lost one district game in four years.
Photos courtesy Peggy Townsend
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