MAYVILLE, N.D.-For the past two seasons, Nick Stahl was on the opposite side of the Grand Forks intra-city football rivalry with Brady Terrill and Aaron Knutson.
Stahl was a starting defensive lineman for Red River High School, while Terrill and Knutson were two-way starters on the line for Central.
"For Red River, it (the rivalry) was pretty fun,'' said Stahl, whose Roughriders beat Central 48-6 in the 2015 season and 30-6 last season.
"It wasn't the best for us,'' said Knutson, who has committed to play football at Minnesota State Moorhead.
Now the trio will be lining up together in one unit in their final high school football game.
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Terrill at tackle and Stahl and Knutson at the ends will start on the defensive line for the 11-man East team in the annual North Dakota Shrine Bowl, to be played Sunday at the Alerus Center. The 11-man game will start at 4 p.m., followed by the 9-man game.
For the players, the rivalry is in the past.
"It gets to the point where we've graduated and that (rivalry) doesn't matter any more,'' Terrill said.
The trio will be starting despite Central winning just one game in the last two seasons and Red River going 4-6 last season.
"To be playing is a big honor, especially when our team won only one game last year and none two years ago,'' Knutson said. With those struggles in the win-loss column, ''we didn't know if they'd notice us when they picked players.''
But the Grand Forks linemen, who will be joined by Carrington's Bradee Schroeder on the starting defensive front, showed their skills when Shrine practices began here this week.
"We were looking to see who fits where and (Stahl, Knutson and Terrill) stepped up on the defensive line,'' East 11-man coach Scott Grochow of Rugby said. "They've been consistent. They give us some length, some size and quickness. And they're aggressive.''
Aggressive?
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"I expected to be playing offense,'' said Terrill, a state wrestling champion as a senior. "But it doesn't matter where I'm playing, as long as I'm hitting somebody.''
This is the final football game for Terrill. Stahl and Knutson will become foes again, as Stahl has signed to play at University of Mary in Bismarck and Knutson with the Dragons. Both programs are Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference members.
Stahl said he hasn't mentioned Red River's domination of the Grand Forks rivalry in recent years. Looking ahead, he's going to a program coming off a 1-10 record, while MSUM was 7-4.
"They can come right back at me with the Moorhead-Mary thing,'' Stahl said.
