LOCKWOOD — Bigfork's Cormac Benn put on a show in Lockwood on Saturday.
Benn, a Carroll College football and track commit, scored four touchdowns to lead the North to a 28-21 win over the South in the Class B all-star football game at Lockwood Stadium.
"It was an awesome game. I love playing with every one of these guys. They're all my friends and we'll be friends the rest of our lives," Benn said. "I start getting goosebumps when I see those pylons down there. They're the reason I'm scoring those big touchdowns."
Benn started off the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run that was set up by a long pass from Fairfield's Guidry Giles to Conrad's Carson Bitney.
The South, though, would strike right back. Manhattan's Caden Holgate punctuated a long scoring drive with a 2-yard run for six, but Holgate would leave the game shortly after with an injury.
That left Red Lodge's Trey Allen to play quarterback for the South, and he was slinging it around in the first half. Allen gave the South a 14-6 lead after a 31-yard scoring toss to Whitehall's Flint Smith.
Benn and the North answered right back, as Benn would take a sweep around the left edge for a 5-yard score to tie the game at 14. Allen then threw his second touchdown pass of the first half, connecting from 29 yards out with Roundup's Ty Kombol.
The South opened the second half with possession and a chance to make it a two-score game, but the drive ultimately fizzled out inside the North 10-yard line. The North proceeded to march down the field before Benn scored his third touchdown of the game - a 20-yard reception from Glasgow's Loden Idler.
Benn then ripped off a 68-yard touchdown run to put the North up 28-21. An interception by Missoula Loyola's Tommy Albrecht looked like it may seal the deal, but the South got one more crack at tying the game.
After pushing the ball into North territory on a long pass to Kombol, the South faced 3rd and 20 with less than a minute to play. Allen completed a pass to Manhattan's Gabriel Delgatty, who came up a yard shy of the first down.
With the clock moving and no timeouts, the South handed the ball to Colstrip's Rylin Burns in search of a first down, but the North turned Burns back to seal the 28-21 win, the second consecutive victory for the North in the series. The North now leads the all-time series 17-15.
"Our defense balled out (Saturday). I'm so happy with them," Benn said. "I got really nervous when (the South) was down in our red zone, but they pulled through and we got that 'W.'"
Benn was awarded the North offensive MVP and Albrecht the North defensive MVP. Smith was named the South offensive MVP on the back of his big receiving day and Burns was named the defensive MVP while also toting the rock out of the backfield on offense.
"It's really awesome, because when my brother played in the game he got defensive MVP," Benn said. "So I was like, 'I've got to come out here and get offensive MVP.'"
Benn doesn't get much time to rest, as practices for the 2021 East-West Shrine Game begin on Sunday.
