KINDE - Oct. 16, 2009 - Whittemore-Prescott won its seventh game of the season for the first time since 2004 and improved its chances at hosting a first-round playoff game by defeating Kinde North Huron in Friday, 41-19.

North Huron, as it did two weeks early against Mio in a 34-12 loss, controlled much of the first half against W-P.

It took a pair of Kevin Dupuis touchdown runs, from 14 and 10 yards out, to give the Cardinals a 14-7 halftime lead. Dupuis' second score didn't come until 2:23 remained in the first half.

"They scored early and seemed to control the ball in the first half," said W-P coach Kevin Frederick. "They kept our offense on the sideline, and we turned the ball over too much.

"We need to work on holding onto the ball and finishing drives."

Dupuis led off the third quarter with a 24-yard run and Chris Downes, who led the Cards with 217 yards on 20 carries, scored on an 8-yard run to give W-P a 28-7 lead after three quarters.

The two squads alternated two touchdowns apiece in a wild final four minutes. North Huron got passes of 70 and 74 yards from Dhyse to Tom Fisher and Kevin Rice. Downes countered had a 62-yard run and the Cards ran out the clock with their final drive as Greg Lomason scored on a short run with 32 seconds left.

The Cardinals (7-1) close out the regular season against Iosco County rival Tawas Area (3-5). A win over the Class B Braves would greatly help W-P's playoff seeding.

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.