Ogemaw Heights assistant coach Craig Funsch embraces his son, Andrew Funach, after the Falcons fell 21-13 in Saturday's pre-district football contest at Petoskey. Ogemaw, which lost four of its five games this season by a touchdown or less, had its chances to tie or win the game in the fourth quarter but came up short.
Kyle Scott (20) defends against a Petoskey receiver, who picks up an offensive interference penalty on the play.
Linda Eyer
The Falcons' Alex Rose tips a pass in the air as Jason Immel awaits it during Saturday's pre-district loss at Petoskey.

PETOSKEY - Nov. 1, 2008 - Ogemaw Heights' 21-13 Division 3 pre-district tournament loss to Petoskey on Saturday not only ended the Falcons' season, it pretty much told the tale of the entire campaign in one afternoon.

The Falcons played well enough to stay in the game with a top-flight opponent, but made just enough mistakes to keep from actually winning.

The results was Ogemaw's fourth loss by one score or less. Other than the Falcons' 34-6 loss to John Glenn, their other four defeats came by a total of 20 points.

"We played everyone tough," said Falcon coach Andrew Pratley. "In the end, one or two plays didn't go our way."

And when your games are close, such plays almost always tend to be costly.

The Falcons battled back from a 14-0 halftime deficit, rolling up more than 200 yards of offense in the second half.

Andrew Funsch's 42-yard run three minutes into the second half got the Falcons back in the game. He scored again in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but a missed extra point attempt left the Falcons still down a point.

"We came out a little flat in the first half," Pratley said. "The second half, we had a little more fire. We played with a lot of passion and dominated most of the half."

That domination continued into the next drive, when the Falcons  penetrated deep into Northmen territory with under six minutes to play. But then one of those game- and season-changing plays went Petoskey's way.

Quarterback John Hughes' pass was deflected by a teammate, then intercepted by Petoskey's Hunter Keiswetter. He returned it the other way to set the Northmen up inside the Ogemaw 40.

Mike Suter, who finished with 168 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries, scored on a 13-yard run to give Petoskey some breathing room.

The Falcons still had one more chance, but after Hughes was injured on their last-gasp drive, Eric Noble's pass was picked off with 37 seconds remaining to seal the Petoskey win.

"Our defense played pretty well," Pratley said. "But their three scoring drives totaled less than 100 yards. It was the little things that got us all year."

The Falcons managed little offense in the first half, while Petoskey took advantage of good field position to score its first two touchdowns, one of them after a blocked punt.

Hughes finished with 96 rushing yards on 20 carries, while Funsch added 52 yards on five carries.

Kody Smith led the defense with 10 tackles, Thorson had nine and Funsch added eight.

The Falcons finished the season with a 5-5 mark, making the playoffs for the fourth straight season.

"It's never good to see the season end," Pratley said. "This was a great group of kids. They worked very hard. The battled all year, and I was really proud to see the way they came back after week five (when the Falcons were 2-3 and in danger of missing the playoffs.)

"It's very tough to see the seniors go."