OSCODA – Despite turning the ball over six times, the Oscoda football team found a way to edge Whittemore-Prescott in overtime on Friday by a score of 22-14 in a North Star League Big-Dipper division game.

“We played out of our mind defensively tonight. The kids never quit. What this says about our team is that we have grit, we have character and the defense never quit playing, defense is what won this game tonight,” Oscoda coach Mark Whitley said.

Oscoda got the ball first in overtime and got the Cardinals to jump offsides on the first snap. Two plays later, Nathan Nagel rolled to his right and hit Travis Lamrock in the corner of the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown.

Whittemore again jumped offsides as the Owls were lining up for the extra point, moving the ball half the distance to the goal line. Whitley decided to go for two and Nagel powered his way in for the conversion to put Oscoda ahead 22-14.

The Cardinals were stopped for no gain on their first two downs and were called for a holding penalty on third down. Oscoda declined the penalty and forced an incomplete pass on fourth down to close out a wild game and improve to 2-1 on the year.

Both teams started off the opening quarter struggling to move the football. The Owls lost two fumbles in the opening quarter, but Whittemore struggled offensively as it was without senior star Joe Lauria and it proved to be a major blow as the banged up Cardinals struggled to find other answers throughout their offense.

The first score of the game came when Whittemore defensive back Kyle Colton jumped in front of a screen pass and took it 50 yards on the first play of the second quarter to put the Cardinals ahead by six.

Oscoda finally got in the end zone with 1:25 left in the first half. A big third down pass play from Nagel to David Alexander set up Alexander’s two yard plunge up the middle that gave the Owls a 7-6 lead.

Whittemore quickly drove down the field and got inside the 10 yard line, but Colton threw an interception in the end zone as time ran out, helping Oscoda preserve a one point lead heading into the break.

“Our defense played their butts off and we dominated in the trenches. We never had problems hanging onto the ball, but unfortunately tonight it was the case, but fortunately we were able to overcome that by fighting adversity,” Whitley said.

Oscoda stopped the Cardinals on the first possession of the second half and the Owls put together a long, time consuming drive that saw three third down conversions, but again they shot themselves in the foot as Nagel was intercepted again by Colton inside the 10 yard line and Oscoda came up empty again.

The Owl defense stepped up and forced a punt as time ran out in the third quarter. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Nagel broke off a huge 48-yard touchdown run to give Oscoda a 14-6 lead.

Whittemore punted on its next possession and the Owls took over with 8:48 left in the game, but turned the ball over for the fifth time just two plays later on their own 30 yard line.

The Cardinals capitalized this time as Dakota Kinney scored from one yard out on fourth down. Whittemore tied the game up as Shane Nichols took a pitch around the outside and scampered in for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 14 with 4:13 left in the game.

With plenty of time remaining, Oscoda looked to be in business as it ran some trickery when Braeden Barnes threw a halfback pass down field that was hauled in by Grant Huebel at the 21 yard line.

Two plays later, the Owls committed their sixth turnover of the night with 1:50 left in the game.

Whittemore had the ball at the Owls’ 30 yard line with two seconds left and took a shot to the end zone, but the pass was picked off by Nick Cochell to send the game to overtime.

“It was huge for us to get this win tonight after losing a tough game last week. Whittemore is a tough team and this was a great game against a great team. This sets us up good, we have a little momentum now after a win like this and hopefully we’re going to ride this momentum for a while,” Whitley said.

Jonny Zawacki can be reached via email at jzawacki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5690.