The Cowboys opened the scoring when they picked off an Otter pass and returned it to the Otter 12-yard line. Four plays later the Cowboys found the endzone for a 6-0 lead. The two-point conversion was successful, and the Cowboys had an 8-0 lead.

That lead would stand until the third quarter. The Otters played very well defensively all game long and this time they turned a big play into points. Freshman Alex Ellison stepped in front of a Cowboy receiver, intercepted the pass, and really showed his speed as he raced 75 yards for the Otter touchdown. The Otters failed on their two-point conversion attempt and the Cowboys had an 8-6 lead.

That Cowboy lead stood as the game reached late in the fourth quarter. The Cowboys were putting together a very nice drive and chewing up the clock reaching the Otter 8-yard line with first and goal to go. The Otters came up with big stops on first and second down and then the hit of the game came. On third and goal, the Cowboy’s ran a quarterback sweep to the left and Otter sophomore Trey Smith flew in from his secondary position and laid a picture-perfect hit on the ball carrier to force the fumble. Carston Fronning, who had an outstanding defensive game, recovered the fumble on the Otters own 10-yard line. The Otter offense took over with about three minutes left in the game and 90 yards to the Cowboy endzone.

Early in the game the Otters were plagued by offensive penalties, bad snaps, and turnovers. This drive the snaps by Dane Hastings were perfect, the blocking was clean, and the Otters were able to create big plays. The drive opened with quarterback Levi King hitting Darius Lockett for an 11-yard gain. King then raced around the left side on a quarterback sweep for 25 yards. The Otters ran the same play to the right side and this time King ran for 24 yards to put the ball on the Cowboy 30-yard line. King then dropped back, found an open receiver in Henry Bethel at the four-yard line. Bethel caught the ball, put a nifty move on the Cowboy defender and scored the touchdown to give the Otters the lead 12-8.

The Otter defense really played well down the stretch and in the last drive saw some exceptional defense from sophomore defensive backs Jaxon Zenner, Brayden Nelson and Trey Smith. Brayden also did a very nice job splitting duties at quarterback.

This group of Otters will play their next game Monday, September 13 at home against Detroit Lakes. Kickoff is set for 5:00pm.