Tawas Area's Casey Wheatley (8) goes high to try to knock down an Oscoda pass during Friday's contest.
A.J. Baker
The Owls' Jake Trier (8) tries to fight off a tackle for some yardage.

OSCODA - Sept. 14, 2007 - It was the kind of night when even the winning coach was more than ready for the game to end.

"I have been on the other end of a running clock many times," said Tawas coach Tim Webb after the Braves' 72-0 victory over Oscoda on Friday. "It is not fun. The final score looked terrible, but we did all we could to keep the score down."

The Braves scored on five of their seven offensive plays in the first quarter and added an interception return to lead 40-0 at the end of the opening period and 53-0 at the half.

"The game was a major disappointment, to say the least," said Oscoda coach Chris Davis.

Size was a major problem for the Owls, who struggled to physically match up with the much bigger Braves.

The Braves didn't attempt a single pass and finished with 543 yards rushing on 32 carries. Alex Verlac led the Braves with 179 yards and three first-half touchdowns, Ricky Payea added 128 yards and three scores on six carries and Eric Stec had 121 yards and three touchdowns on four carries. Billy Schmidt added a touchdown and 43 yards on two carries and Jared Coffin returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown.

"We made several mistakes on defense specifically at the point of attack that resulted in the early scores of the game... As the game wore on, fundamentals by our players weren't upheld. Poor tackling was an epidemic demonstrated by arm tackles which led to big plays for the Tawas offense."

Alex Leslie led the Tawas defense with 12 tackles.

"It's one of those things you hate to see happen as a coach," Webb said. "But we did all we could."

"I give all the credit in the world to Tim Webb and his team," Davis said. "They are a tough, athletic and hungry football team and they showed that Friday.

"The most disappointing thing about Friday's game is that our kids didn't play to their full potential, which has not been often this season. When they don't play to their potential things can get out of hand like they did against Tawas."

It will be a much different story for the Braves (3-1, 1-1 NEMC) this week, as they host Standish-Sterling (4-0, 2-0). The Braves need to win to keep their NEMC title hopes alive, while SSC is coming off its first win over John Glenn in 10 seasons (19-10).

"Obviously we need to be ready to play this week," Webb said. "Standish has an outstanding team and we are going to have to play our very best if we want to stay in the game."