Ogemaw Heights' Conrad Laurion flattens a Fremont ballcarrier as teammate Kyle Scott (20) lends a hand from below.
Ogemaw Heights had to hang on for dear life just to stay in the game early in Friday's opener against Fremont. But after spotting the Packers a 20-point first quarter lead, Alex Rose (5) and the Falcons dominated the second half in a 29-20 victory.
Brent Baker
Ogemaw's Andrew Funsch (3) jumps on a Fremont fumble as Falcon teammates Lance Griffus (33) and Anthony Carollo (40) look on.

OGEMAW HEIGHTS - Aug. 29, 2008 - Going into the season, it was well understood that the Ogemaw Heights football team would have a different look to it than it has the past few years.

But after the first 13 minutes, which included five fumbles (three of which were lost), two penalties and a 20-0 deficit, Falcon coach Andrew Pratley (as well as Ogemaw Heights' opening night crowd) had to wonder what in the name of Matt Faiman and Michael Noffsinger was going on.

Once the Falcons got untracked, they took over the game, outscoring the Fremont Packers 29-0 over the final 27 minutes to snag a 29-20 victory that for awhile seemed improbable.

"We told the kids before the game that we didn't think (Fremont) could stop us," Pratley said. "It was a matter of whether or not we would stop ourselves. In the first half, we did a pretty good job of that.

"Our defense kept us in the game early, and the offense came around. In the second half we came back out and played great football."

No one was faulting the defense for the early deficit. Despite a bruising performance by Packer running back Matt Terveer, the Falcons played well with their backs to the wall. Fremont's three scores all came after Falcon turnovers. Terveer scored on a three-yard run on fourth down to cap a 14-yard drive; and quarter back Joe Frendo hit Alec Beattie with touchdown passes of 32 and 24 yards, each on the first play after Packer fumble recoveries.

"Hopefully it was (first game jitters)," Pratley said of the first half. "We have a lot of young guys; we're alternating two quarterbacks; we have a lot of new kids. We're very young and inexperienced, and we need to get some kids healthy."

But the Falcons also prevented further damage as Kyle Scott picked off a Frendo pass in the first quarter and Andrew Funsch's fumble recovery with four minutes left in the half.

The last turnover set the Falcons up for their first score, a weaving burst up the middle by Funsch for 36 yards that, with Jarritt Orlando's extra point, cut the halftime deficit to 20-7.

The second half was nothing like the first.

Eric Noble, who shared time at quarterback with John Hughes, set up the Falcons' first score of the half with a 36-yard run (with a 15-yard penalty tacked on). Funsch scored the second of his three touchdowns from 12 yards out to cut it to 20-13.

Funsch had all 46 yards of the Falcons' next possession, including a 33-yard scoring jaunt to cut the margin to one. Anthony Carollo bulled into the pile and reached across the goal line for the two-point conversion that gave the Falcons the lead with 4:04 left in the third quarter.

Noble scored on an 18-yard run with 8:42 left in the game and passed to Alex Rose for two points for the final margin.

Funsch finished with 210 yards rushing on 21 carries, Noble added 55 yards on six carries and Carollo had 50 yards on 10 carries as the Falcons amassed 332 yards on the ground, averaging 8.7 yards per carry.

Noble passed for 33 yards on 3-of-6 passing. Conrad Laurion had 11 tackles, Tyler Brindley added 10 tackles and two sacks and Funsch had eight tackles.

The Falcons (1-0) travel to Petoskey (1-0) on Friday, Sept. 5. Northmen crushed Marquette 55-10 in their opener, but the Falcons have a three-game win streak in the series.

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