Alex Rose fights for yardage after making a short reception during Friday's 25-23 district playoff victory over Bullock Creek.
Falcon defenders Carl Worthy (52), Tyson Little (80) and John Goss pursue Bullock Creek quarterback Matthew Peterson.
Brent Baker
Jarritt Orlando boots a key extra point to give the Falcons a 25-17 fourth-quarter lead.

BULLOCK CREEK - Oct. 25, 2007 - Late in the first half of Friday's Division 4 district football playoff opener, Ogemaw Heights' season looked like it was on life support.

With 1:03 left in the first half, the Falcons had give up 17 straight points to a Bullock Creek squad that was adept at chewing up the clock by grinding out yards on the ground. Not only that, the Falcons were pinned back on their own 8-yard line after committing a penalty on the kickoff return following Kyle O'Boyle's four-yard run that gave the Lancers a 17-6 lead.

It turned out that 1:03 was plenty of time for a game- and season-rescuing drive that launched the Falcons on their way to a 25-23 victory and a district championship matchup with Kingsford.

"We always end our Thursday practice by running the two-minute drill," said Ogemaw coach Andrew Pratley. "Yesterday we started it off by saying, 'You have 1:03 left.' And that's when we took over tonight."

Michael Noffsinger got the Falcons out of a hole with an 18-yard run to get things going. Quarterback Kevin O'Neil hit Andrew Funsch with a pair of passes, the second of which put Ogemaw on the Lancers' 36-yard line with seconds remaining in the half.

O'Neil then hit Josh Jameson -- who turned around a Bullock Creek defender, made a leaping catch and glided untouched into the end zone for the momentum-shifting score.

"The kids did a great job It gave us the momentum heading into the second half. That was huge."

The game obviously was not over as the Falcons still trailed 17-12. But after taking the second-half kickoff they took over the line of scrimmage while running off a 14-play, 68-yard, six-minute drive that ended with Michael Noffsinger's four-yard touchdown that gave Ogemaw the lead.

And though the Falcon defense was dominant through most of the second half, it still came down to one play at the end.

The Lancers trailed 25-17 when quarterback Matthew Peterson dove into the end zone with a touchdown with 1:37 left, set up by a 49-yard pass from Peterson to Garrett Yatch. A two-point conversion would have forced overtime, but Conrad Laurion and Anthony Carollo stopped Peterson shy of the goal line.

"We felt like we needed to come out and prove ourselves defensively, especially after a poor effort at Cheboygan (a 42-6 loss)," Pratley said. "They had their backs up against the wall all week long, but tonight they came through, especially in the second half."

Other than the Peterson-to-Yatch pass, the Falcons allowed the Lancers just 23 yards of offense in the second half. Bullock Creek had four possessions in the second half and went three-and-out on the first three. The Falcons held O'Boyle and Andrew Copus, the Lancers' twin 1,000-yard rushers, to a combined 104 yards on 29 carries, including nine yards on seven carries in the second half.

Noffsinger, who gave the Falcons a brief 6-0 lead early in the game with a 48-yard touchdown run, rushed for 103 yards on 19 carries in the second half and two touchdowns in the second half. His most harrowing run came on a fake punt from the Falcons' own 24-yard line as they nursed an 18-17 lead with six minutes left. Noffsinger took the snap in punt formation and rather than kicking the ball, broke loose down the left sideline for a 30-yard gain. Three plays later, Noffsinger's 20-yard TD run and Jarritt Orlando's extra point made it 25-17.

"No (defender) was covering that side," Pratley said, admitting he hadn't called for a fake. "Michael saw that and took off.

"He's a tremendous athlete who's made a lot of plays for us all year. He came through again tonight."

Bullock Creek took a 7-6 lead early in the second quarter on O'Boyle's 31-yard run. After the Falcons were stopped on 4th-and-1 at their own 39-yard line, the defense held Bullock Creek to a 38-yard Trevor Moser field goal. Two plays later, the Falcons fumbled the ball away, setting up O'Boyle's second scoring run.

"In the first half, the offense put our defense in a bind a couple of times," Pratley said. "But in the second half we did a good job of making plays and keeping them on their end of the field."

Noffsinger finished with 177 yards rushing on 25 carries. O'Neil completed 8-of-13 passes for 132 yards and added 51 yards rushing on 11 carries, while Kelvin Page caught three passes for 47 yards.

Defensively, Carl Worthy was in on 13 tackles, Andrew Funsch added 12, Carollo and Trevor Zettel added 11 each and Laurion had 10.

Bullock Creek, which was ranked sixth in the final Division 4 football poll, finished its season at 8-2. Ogemaw (8-2) hosts Kingsford (7-3), which surprised district top seed Cheboygan 49-21, for the district title.