Outlook: The good news for Oscoda is that the Owls won't be carrying their albatross of a losing streak into the 2009 season, not after an 40-12 victory over Rogers City to put an emphatic end to the streak.

Unfortunately, only four players that were on that squad are back this season. The lack of seniors means this year's squad is very much on the young side -- so young that Oscoda cancelled its JV season, moved up the kids that still wanted to play, and will field a squad of about 30.

"We definitely sent off the seniors the right way," says Oscoda coach Chris Davis, in his third year of literally rebuilding the program from scratch. "We're taking small steps forward and building on what we were able to do last year.

"In 2007 it was an accomplishment just to survive and get through the season. Last year we were competitive in most of our games and finally got that win.

"So this year, we're trying to get our second win since 2005. We still haven't won a home game since then, and we haven't won consecutive games since 2000. So our opener is pretty big."

Seniors Chris Dehmel (wide receiver / linebacker), John Doherty (offensive and defensive lines) and Ben Davies (wide receiver / defensive back) and junior captain Sean Rousseau (offensive and defensive lines) constitute the extent of the Owls' varsity experience.

They'll be joined by a large group moving up from last year's and this year's JV squads. The Owls' JV last season went 1-7 while suiting up just 12 players, but Davis feels that against most of his team's schedule they should be competitive.

"They competed well against the North Star-sized schools, which is mostly who we're playing this year," Davis says. "There's a lot of optimism, but it's a very 'green' team in terms of the varsity environment.

"We had some growing pains at the scrimmage, but it's a talented group of young kids. If they can grow up quickly -- mainly learn to play the game at full speed -- then there's reason for optimism."

What constitutes optimism at this stage of the building process?

"Obviously, we have some different goals than a lot of programs," Davis says. "We want the kids to set goals that are realistic. If we can go out and compete and stay healthy, it's in our mission statement to go and get ourselves a winning season. It would be nice to have bigger goals, but that's not where we're at yet."