TAWAS AREA - Sep. 16, 2006 - Considering the hype leading up to the 50th Tawas-Oscoda football game, the game itself was almost an anticlimax.
Despite having to wait an extra day to play, the Braves rolled to a big early lead and blanked the shorthanded Owls 44-0 in a contest that was never in doubt.
The teams had negotiated the Saturday playing date to give Oscoda, with its 20-man roster, time to heal up after several players were injured during the Owls' loss to Ogemaw Heights the previous week. The extra day allowed several athletes to obtain doctors' clearances that might not have been forthcoming for a Friday contest.
The delay, of course, provided plenty of internet chat room and bulletin board fodder for the two rivals. Unfortunately, with Oscoda in a rebuilding year even without its injuries, and Tawas in the middle of a resurgence, the game wasn't quite as entertaining as the pre-game back-and-forth.
Tawas Area's Alex Verlac scored on runs of two, 35 and 23 yards in the first quarter and Tyler Klenow added a three-yard run on the first play of the second quarter as the Braves took a quick 27-0 lead, then turned to their reserves for the majority of the final three quarters.
"It was a good win," said Tawas coach Tim Webb. "I feel real happy for our seniors, especially Ty McCoy and Evan St. Aubin, who have been on varsity three years and hadn't beaten Oscoda. It was fun for some of our kids who don't get to play every game."
It also gave Webb his first coaching victory against Oscoda coach Kyle Tobin, for whom Webb played at Whittemore-Prescott.
"He's one of the best," Webb said. "I have all the respect in the world for him. His kids played hard, and the moved the ball on us in the second half. It's a credit to him and (defensive coordinator) Chris Davis that they were able to compete the way they did."
While the Owls were able to keep a team on the field, with the injury situation they had kids playing in new positions, as well as others playing that hadn't seen much of the practice field. Offensively Oscoda was ragged and unsure of itself in the early going, but behind the rushing of Marcus Curley and quarterback Mike Gondek, who kept coming back for more despite taking several tooth-rattling hits, the Owls put together a 13-play drive to end the first half that started on their own six and ended in Braves' territory, and advanced to the Tawas 35 on the final drive of the game.
The Braves needed 13 plays to score on their opening drive of the game, but their second and third touchdowns came on a pair of two-play drives of 60 and 29 yards on which Verlac had all four carries. Klenow's first of two touchdowns capped a five-play, 53-yard drive and the Braves made it 34-0 at the half as Verlac topped off a 12-play, 51-yard drive with a 1-yard run.
Ricky Payea added a 23-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter and Klenow added his second touchdown on a four-yard run with 5:05 left in the game.
The victory gives he Braves claim to the Iosco County News Herald trophy for the first time in three seasons.
Verlac finished with 164 yards and four touchdowns on 15 carries, with Klenow adding 73 yards and two scores in 1 carries.
Evan St. Aubin led the defense with seven tackles, two sacks and a blocked punt. Josh Thomas added six tackles and a fumble recovery.
The Braves (3-1, 1-1) travel to Standish-Sterling to take on a Panther team that suffered its first defeat of the season Friday to John Glenn, 17-6.
