STANDISH-STERLING - Sep. 11, 2009 - Ogemaw Heights wasn't able to cash in on its chances early in Friday's NEMC football contest at Standish-Sterling.

But after trailing the entire game, the Falcons put together a pair of 90-yard drives in the final quarter and took its only lead on the final play of overtime: Jarritt Orlando's 27-yard field goal that gave the Falcons a 16-13 victory.

"It was a great game played by both teams," said SSC coach Paul Walderzak. "I think in the end it was their size and strength that was getting the better of us."

"Finishing," was the difference between the first three quarters and the fourth, said Falcon coach Andrew Pratley. "We moved the ball all game, but we finally finished in the fourth quarter."

Ogemaw had a 90-yard drive come up short in the first half when an illegal formation penalty negated a Falcon touchdown.

That meant SSC quarterback Mitchell McFarland's 12-yard touchdown run and Trevor Trombley's PAT in the first quarter stood as the only points of the first half.

The Panthers looked to have things going their way when Trombley broke loose for a 74-yard touchdown run 44 seconds into the third quarter.

But behind a breakout performance by sophomore running back Sheldon Roberto, who ran for 200 yards on 27 carries, the Falcons kept moving the ball and keeping the Panther offense off the field.

"We felt we needed some more explosiveness at running back," Pratley said. "Sheldon did a nice job for us."

Tyler Brindley's 21-yard run with 6:20 left and Orlando's extra point cut the SSC lead to 13-7.

The Falcons got a defensive stop and launched their game-tying drive from their own 8-yard line with three minutes to play. John Hughes tied the score with an 8-yard run with 25 seconds left, but Orlando missed the extra point, forcing overtime.

SSC failed to score in its overtime possession, and after running a play the Falcons set up for the game-winner.

"I didn't say anything (to Orlando)," Pratley said. "We used our overtime time out and made sure the kids knew where the rush was coming from and that they were set up to block correctly.

"He just went away by himself like a lot of college and NFL kickers do. He knew what he needed to do, and he did it."

The game was critical for both teams' playoff chances, even though the season is only three games old. Both squads face challenging schedules over the coming weeks, and SSC (1-2, 0-1 NEMC) has no margin for error with Cheboygan (3-0) coming to town on Sep. 18.

Ogemaw (2-1, 1-0) travels to Tawas Area.

"The Standish game is a rivalry game and we always know they're going to play good defense," Pratley said. "Coming out of there with a win is a plus. We've got areas to work on, and it won't get any easier with Tawas. It's their homecoming and we need to make sure we make the adjustments we need to."

Trombley led SSC with 99 rushing on 11 carries, with McFarland adding 56 yards on 10 carries and 20 yards on 3-of-7 passing.

Alex Schmidt had 15 tackles, Zack Neid added 13 with a fumble recovery and Tanner Mitrzyk had 11.

"I'm very proud of how our kids played," Walderzak said. "We were very physical and held a pretty talented team in check for most of the night."