TAWAS AREA - Oct. 16, 2009 - Tawas Area's offense began resembling what Braves coach Tim Webb had in mind at the start of the season, but it wasn't enough to keep pace with Caro in a 48-28 non-conference loss on Friday.

The defeat, Tawas Area's fifth of the season, formally eliminated the Braves from playoff contention.

Tawas went toe to toe with Caro for much of the game, but a 20-point second quarter proved to be the difference.

"Caro blocked well and had a pretty tough running back," Webb said. "He was really shifty and faster than anyone on our team."

Jesse Siwek, who has played hurt (and therefore out of position) for most of the season, returned to quarterback and guided the Braves to a 13-8 first quarter lead. He hit Tim Schmidt for a 33-yard touchdown pass for the Braves' first score.

Matt Compau added three rushing touchdowns -- scoring from one yard out in the first quarter, from four yards in the third and five yards in the fourth.

Caro led 28-13 at the half, but Compau's second touchdown midway through the third quarter cut it to 28-20.

That was as close as the Braves could get as Caro quarterback Caleb Sundblad ran for a 5-yard score late in the third quarter and hit Tim Curtis with a 31-yard pass early in the fourth for a 40-20 lead.

"I was pretty happy with our offense," Webb said. "Siwek was healthy enough to play quarterback for the first time since Week 3. It was good to have him back."

The Braves (3-5) travel to Whittemore-Prescott (7-1) on Friday, hoping to slow down a Cardinals team that has already clinched a playoff berth and is playing for home field advantage.

With vastly different schedules, the teams' disparate records are somewhat misleading. Pinconning and Oscoda were the teams' only common opponents. W-P fell to Pinny 48-28 while Tawas suffered a 27-13 loss to the Spartans. Against Oscoda, the Cards won 44-16 while Tawas was a 35-0 winner.

"W-P is having a great season," Webb said. "Over the last three years the game has come down to the very end. Hopefully we can give them a game this year too.

"We need to have a great week of practice and come out and pay hard."