Andrew Funsch (3), who finished with 17 total tackles, pulls down Petoskey's Matt Fitzek (2) with an assist from Anthony Carollo (40).
Michael Noffsinger (4) races through a gaping hole opened by linemen Josh Erickson (left) and Tyson Dantzer (63).
Former Ogemaw Heights coach Larry Bellor (right) watches as his 1997 state championship team is introduced during the halftime ceremony.
Brent Baker
Kelvin Page (7) wraps up Petoskey's Warren Gero in the second half of Friday's contest.

OGEMAW HEIGHTS - Aug. 31, 2007 - With the echoes of the past literally walking the sideline, the Ogemaw Heights football team needed a little extra focus to stay on task in the present.

Maybe it was the echoes that woke up the Falcons. More likely, it was a change of pace on offense that left the Petoskey Northmen back on their heels. Either way, Ogemaw Heights put together a near-perfect second half to break away from a scoreless halftime tie and defeat Petoskey 21-0 -- probably the best way the 2007 Falcons could have paid tribute to the 1997 state championship team that was honored at halftime.

"We played very, very well in the second half," said Ogemaw coach Andrew Pratley. "I thought we dominated on both sides of the ball.

"The first half I'm not sure if part of it wasn't our not being in school yet, all of the activities this past week, or what. But one thing that's happened in both games is that the opposing defenses have shown us things completely different than what we've seen on film, so we had to change things up a bit. I give the kids credit for making the adjustments an executing the way they did."

Petoskey's double-wing offense churned out yardage throughout the first half, eating chunks of yardage but invariably running aground against a Falcon defense that was solid throughout the contest. Though the Northmen twice had drives of more than a dozen plays, they never got inside the Ogemaw 40-yard line until late in the fourth quarter with the game well in hand.

"Their offense is tough to stop," Pratley said. "But it's also hard to sustain drives going three yards at a time all night. They got their yards but our defense played extremely well all night."

Among those who had a little extra motivation to play well in this particular game were Andrew Funsch and Evan Zimmerman, whose brothers Josh Funsch and Brandon Zimmerman played on the '97 squad.

"I was kind of nervous about it," Andrew Funsch said. "I wanted to do good; I knew if I didn't by brother'd have ragged on me pretty bad."

Funsch was in on 17 tackles, including 12 solos, and two tackles for loss and a big hit that reverberated to the upper levels of the nearly-full stands.

"I just covered the area I was supposed to," he said.

Zimmerman, a defensive back, didn't see quite as much action in his part the field but was in on five tackles.

Offensively, the Falcons ran out of a shotgun spread for most of the second half and immediately took control. Ogemaw's first possession of the third quarter was a 10-play, 62-yard drive highlighted by Michael Noffsinger's 32-yard reception of a Kevin O'Neil pass to the 4-yard line. Noffsinger punched in the first of his three touchdowns and kicked the extra point for a 7-0 lead at the 6:51 mark.

Noffsinger, who finished with 147 yards on 12 carries and caught three passes for another 111 yards, had the most spectacular play of the night when he took a 20-yard pass from O'Neil just past midfield, then zig-zagged across the field and broke multiple tackles before getting dragged down at the 1-yard line to set up his second score of the night.

The Falcons made it three touchdowns in three possessions with a nine-play, 99-yard drive on which six different players touched the ball, but that ended with Noffsinger taking it through traffic down the left sideline for 47 yards and the game-clinching score with 7:54 left.

O'Neil finished with 186 yards on 11-of-24 passing. Alex Rose added 35 yards on three receptions. Carl Worthy was in on 11 tackles, while Kelvin Page and Anthony Carollo had 10 apiece while Tyson Little and Trevor Zettel had nine each.

The Falcons (2-0) open North East Michigan Conference play at Oscoda (0-2) next week. The Owls lost 46-18 at Elk Rapids on Thursday.