GAYLORD - Oct. 17, 2008 - A month ago, Ogemaw Heights' football playoff chances were on life-support.

But after three weeks of stellar defense, just enough opportunistic offense and time for some key injuries to heal, the Falcons are on the verge of completing an improbable run to the post-season after winning their third straight "loser out" game, holding on to win at Gaylord 13-7.

"We definitely had some adversity, especially early in the season," said Ogemaw Heights coach Andrew Pratley. "We lost a couple of close games and had a lot of injuries to deal with. When you're 2-3 you start hearing the doubters, but it pushed the kids to unite.

"We told the kids after the John Glenn loss that if they kept fighting through it, good things would start happening. They've accomplished a lot, but they can't be satisfied with getting this far if they don't want to be done (with the season)."

The Falcons defense nearly ran its shutout streak to 12 quarters before Gaylord scored inside the final two minutes to cut a 13-0 Falcon lead in half on Nick Freeman's 13-yard pass to Tyler Pollack.

"We were disappointed to see that (scoreless streak) end," Pratley said. "But the important thing was to win the game, and we had to hang on for dear life."

The Blue Devils recovered the ensuing onside kick to give themselves a final chance, and the Falcons weren't safe until a fourth-down pass fell just out of reach of a Gaylord receiver to end it.

"It made it an entertaining evening for the fans," Pratley said.

"The thing is, we felt we should have been up 14-0 at the half. We got stopped once inside the 2-yard line, and right before the half we're pretty sure we got in the end zone, but it wasn't ruled that way.

"We came out in the third quarter with the attitude that we were going to finish things off, and for 22 of the next 24 minutes we did it. After those last couple minutes we were lucky to get out with the win."

Conrad Laurion's blocked punt set up quarterback John Hughes' 15-yard run with 4:41 left in the third quarter that finally broke the scoreless tie. The Falcons got another big special teams play to preserve that lead as Andrew Funsch blocked a Gaylord field goal attempt, which turned out to be a key play in the final seconds when the Blue Devils had no choice but to go for a touchdown while trailing by six.

"We'd told the kids, we hadn't had many big special teams plays this year," Pratley said. "We work hard on special teams, but hadn't really had the kinds of plays that prove it. We finally had a couple that made a difference."

Alex Rose, who had been out since getting injured against Standish-Sterling in the third game of the season, returned to see is first action in the second half and responded with an 87-yard catch-and-run that set up Hughes' 2-yard run with 2:05 left that briefly made it 13-0.

"We didn't want to use Alex yet if we didn't have to," Pratley said. "But he's such a good player, and we needed him. We took a shot with a play-action pass. He kind of ran out of gas; they caught him at the 2, but it was a huge play."

With Rose likely to be that much healthier next week, and starting defensive lineman Ken Larson returning after missing much of the season with an injury of his own, the Falcons are as healthy as they've been all season.

Hughes and Funsch each finished with 57 yards rushing. Hughes also finished with 134 yards through the air on 6-of-10 passing, with rose catching three of those for 97 yards.

Funsch and Anthony Carollo were each in on nine total tackles, with Lance Griffus adding eight.

Ogemaw meets Cheboygan (7-1) for the fifth time in four years in the regular-season finale. The two teams have a pair of common opponents: the Chiefs' lone loss came to Petoskey, 21-12, while the Falcons also lost to the Northmen 21-20. Cheboygan also edged Gaylord early in the season, 28-23.

"They're similar to us in that they lost a lot of kids (from last year)," Pratley said. "It should be a great matchup, a great game for the last Friday of the season. Every time we've played them it's meant a lot, and after last year (a 42-6 loss at Cheboygan) it's something the kids are really looking forward to."

The Falcons' (5-3) three-game win streak puts them one win shy of clinching a playoff spot. And while their tough schedule and a lower number of six-win teams in the state than over the past few years puts Ogemaw in a decent position to qualify with five wins, Pratley doesn't want his team to even be thinking in those terms.

"We want to earn our way into the playoffs," he said. "We hold our playoff future in our own hands. It can be a long couple of days waiting (until the MHSAA playoff selection show) to know for sure that you've gotten in.

"We don't want it to come to that."