OGEMAW HEIGHTS - Oct. 24, 2008 - Ogemaw Heights' defense put up another outstanding effort Friday, holding a Cheboygan offense that had been averaging 52 points a game over the past month to less than 150 yards of total offense.

A pair of Falcon turnovers in the first quarter, though, put the Chiefs in on the doorstep of the Ogemaw goal line, and the two resulting touchdowns were all Cheboygan needed to hang on to a 14-7 victory.

The loss meant Ogemaw Heights was left depending on the MHSAA computer point-ranking system to determine if the Falcons would get into the state playoffs with a 5-4 record, where a sixth win would have meant an automatic bid.

"(Cheboygan) is a sound football team," said Ogemaw coach Andrew Pratley. "There's a reason why they're 8-1. We made several mistakes on offense that you can't make against a team like that.

"We put our defense in a bad position all night, but they played admirably."

Actually, both teams' offense struggled with the wet, windy conditions in the first quarter. Ogemaw forced the first turnover of the game when Kody Smith made a leaping interception of Austin Blaskowski's first pass of the game.

The difference was the Falcons' two turnovers -- a fumble on their own 17-yard line, and an interception that Cheboygan's David Rush returned 35 yards to the Ogemaw 27 -- meant the Chiefs needed to move just 44 yards for their two scores.

Myles Brown punched in both touchdowns, the first from two yards out and the second from nine yards, just 36 seconds apart for the quick 14-0 lead with 3:46 left in the opening quarter.

"I told the kids at halftime we still had a chance, but we needed to make some plays," Pratley said. "And we did make some, especially on defense. To hold this offense to just 14 points, especially how the game started, says a lot about their effort."

The Falcons put together drives of 12 plays in the second quarter and 19 plays on a possession that spanned the third and fourth periods, but came up empty both times.

But after Andrew Funsch was stopped on the Cheboygan 6-yard line with eight minutes left, the Ogemaw defense dug in and forced a key turnover of its own, regaining possession at the Chiefs' 15.

John Hughes' 12-yard pass to Funsch set up Hughes' 1-yard run with 5:41 left, and suddenly the game was on.

A Cheboygan penalty and Conrad Laurion's tackle of Derek Ferris for a 5-yard loss forced the Chiefs to punt out of their end zone and the Falcons got the ball back on the Cheboygan 29 with almost four minutes to play. The Chiefs, though allowed the Falcons to get just five yards closer to the end zone, regained possession and fed Ferris six straight times to run out the clock.

Cheboygan, which managed just 61 yards total offense after the first quarter, was led by Dylan Brandt's 56 yards on nine carries, including an 18-yard run that set up Brown's second score.

Funsch had 98 yards on 17 carries and Anthony Carollo added 45 yards on nine carries as the Falcons outgained the Chiefs on the ground 221-153. Hughes completed 3-of-7 passes for 29 yards and Eric Noble was 1-of-5 for 15 yards.

Laurion had nine tackles and five assists, Tyler Brindley added eight tackles and two assists, Carollo had the Falcons' lone sack and Smith broke up three passes in addition to his interception.

"Hopefully we're playing next week and we'll learn from this," Pratley said. "It's a good thing everyone's 0-0 again. Hopefully things fall our way."