The Ogemaw Heightes defense swarms under a John Glenn ballcarrier during Friday's 47-13 victory over the Bobcats. Glenn didn't surpass 100 yards of total offense until late in the fourth quarter.
Ogemaw Heights' Carl Worthy (52) and Tyson Little (80) laid into John Glenn's Matt Balen on the Bobcats' first play from scrimmage Friday, which pretty much told the tale of the entire contest.
Brent Baker
Gio Roberto gains some yardage after making one of his two pass receptions during Friday's contest.

OGEMAW HEIGHTS - Sept. 21, 2007 - It's hard to imagine that despite a 5-0 record that the Ogemaw Heights football team may not yet have shown everything it's capable of. But as they enter the meat of their North East Michigan Conference schedule, the Falcons have clearly establish a standard that the other contenders must reach.

The Falcons thoroughly dominated John Glenn 47-13 on Friday, and coupled with Standish-Sterling's 26-20 loss at Tawas, left Ogemaw as the lone NEMC unbeaten with just three league games played.

The offense was impressive, rolling up more than 500 yards and putting up the most points on the Bobcats since 1997, when the soon-to-be-state champion Falcons handed Glenn a 48-14 defeat.

But it was a suffocating Ogemaw Heights defense that set the tone. The 168 yards of offense accumulated by Glenn was misleading -- 67 of those yards came on Glenn's final offensive play of the night, a long touchdown run by Andrew Martin with 2:30 left in the game.

"The defense stepped up their game again," said Ogemaw coach Andrew Pratley. "They were outstanding.

"We have some aggressive kids. Our defensive coordinator had a great game plan, the kids were in position to make plays. Last year I thought we sat back too much and let them come at us, but this year we did a better job of attacking."

That aggressiveness paid off as the Falcons:

* held the Bobcats to 84 yards on 17 plays in the first half;

* gave up more than two yards on just four plays in the first half and more than five yards just six times in the entire game;

* had nine tackles for a loss of yardage, including three by Carl Worthy;

* allowed the Bobcats to advance the ball more than 10 yards on just three of 13 possessions.

Offensively, the Falcons got things clicking on their second drive, moving 55 yards on seven plays to score midway through the first quarter. Quarterback Kevin O'Neil hit tight end Kelvin Page for the big plays on the drive, the first a 25-yard pass play to the 16-yard line, and two plays later on an 11-yard pass over the middle for the touchdown.

"Kelvin's a kid who had played quarterback all his life (until this year)," Pratley said. "We moved him to tight end and people kind of forget about him."

They probably won't now after he's caught five passes for 89 yards the past two weeks.

One Falcon opposing defenses not only haven't forgotten about but have keyed on stopping is Michael Noffsinger. He put the Falcons' second touchdown on the board with a 57-yard run, picking up several blocks as he swept toward the right sideline, then cut back to the far side of the field before beating the Glenn defense to the end zone.

The Bobcats pierced the Falcon defense in their only meaningful drive of the first half, moving 55 yards on two plays as Tyler Clemons broke loose for a 31-yard up the middle. But Ogemaw bounced back with an 80-yard drive of its own that ended with a 35-yard O'Neil-to-Noffsinger pass. The Falcons made it 28-7 at the half with a seven-play, 62-yard drive, with O'Neil diving in from one yard out with 1:40 left before halftime.

"We've had a little bit in our (offensive) package we've been able to save," Pratley said. "We have a lot of weapons, a lot of different kids who can help us."

If Glenn was going to get back in the game, it needed to get on the board quickly in the second half. Instead, the Falcons held the Bobcats to minus-five yards on their opening drive, then needed to move just 36 yards on six plays to add to the lad, this time on a one-yard Noffsinger run. Ogemaw held Glenn to just seven yards of total offense in the third period.

The Falcons added to the lead on a 75-yard pass from O'Neil to Josh Jameson early in the fourth quarter and on a four-yard run by Anthony Carollo with four minutes left that made it 47-7 after Conrad Laurion's PAT kick.

Noffsinger finished with 128 yards rushing on 12 carries and 41 receiving yards on three catches, while Trevor Zettel adding 52 yards on 10 rushes and Carollo had 50 on nine carries. Page finished with 56 receiving yards on three catches and Gio Roberto caught two passes for 30 yards. O'Neil was 10-of-13 passing for 203 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Worthy was in on nine total tackles, while Zettel added two solo tackles and six assists to lead a balanced defensive effort.

Martin's big run on his only carry made him the Bobcats' leading rusher on the night. Clemons finished with 31 yards on five carries, Chad Tacey had 26 on four carries and Travis Schumann had 18 yards on three carries. Quarterback Richard Watson completed 3-of-8 passes for 28 yards.

The Bobcats fell to 2-2, 1-2 NEMC and saw their league title chances vanish after having won the league the past three seasons. Ogemaw (5-0, 3-0) faces another critical league test at Standish-Sterling (4-1, 2-1) next Friday.

"This was a big win for us," Pratley said. "Anytime you beat John Glenn, it's a good win because it's such a great program.

"We have four games left, though, and they'll all be real tough."