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After getting done what they had to do in a 40-6 win over Sandusky this past Friday night, the Raiders (2-1, 3-1) make the long ride to Harbor Beach this week to take on the unbeaten Pirates (2-0, 4-0).

There are similarities in the match-up with the Pirates to that of the Raiders' GTC East-opening loss to Ubly. The Bearcats were a more physical team and mashed out a 43-22 win. Marlette's spread offense, though, did show up in the second half of that game.

Harbor Beach, just coming off an impressive 39-12 thrashing of Ubly this past Friday, has a power-oriented running attack and a defense that has given up just three touchdowns in the first four weeks. The Raiders will counter with their wide-open style that has exploded in the last two weeks to score 100 points and over 950 yards of offense.

"We feel if we can go up there and give ourselves a chance to win in the fourth quarter... well, we know we're in the race for the title," Marlette coach Dennis Lester said. "We have to play good defense and we have to have no turnovers."

The concern for Marlette is the Pirates' overall tough, physical play. Lester added, "They are well-coached and they're physical. They are really, really physical. They like to go out and pound the ball. And, their defense is so sound."

The Raiders, meanwhile, have not scored less than 22 points in a single game. In fact they have only once this season scored less than 18 points in a single half.

Against Sandusky (0-3, 0-4) this past week, Lester said his team came out flat but still led 28-6 at the half.

"Our focus wasn't there. We had a lot of penalties and a lot of mental mistakes," Lester explained. "We scored 28 points, but we could've have been a lot more focused."

Senior quarterback Austin Comment had a hand in Marlette's first three touchdowns that led to a 20-0 lead. He threw 11 yards to John Bishop to open the game and then, later, reached the end zone on runs of 49 and four yards..

After Sandusky's Aaron Lanctot scored on a 55 yard pass play from sophomore quarterback Jordan Katt in the second quarter, Marlette's Jon Hayward wrapped up the first half with a 20 yard TD burst.

Marlette rounded out the scoring in the third quarter on a 29 yard, Comment-to-Bishop pass play and a 16 yard run by Hayward.

The Raiders netted 357 yards of offense against the ÔSkins, including 247 on the ground. Comment gained 113 rushing and passed for 107. Hayward added 74 yards rushing. Bishop accounted for 80 yards of offense.

Sandusy had 78 yards rushing on 35 carries and 111 yards passing.

The ÔSkins came with a little different look than they used against Deckerville the week before when they passed for over 300 yards.

"Marlette's not real big up front and we thought we could get something running the ball," said Coach Brad Bays. "We thought we had to run the ball a little (because of their offense). We needed to try to keep the ball. Once we gave it up, we struggled. We had players in the right spots, but we missed tackle after tackle. Then again, (their players) were good at making us do that."

John Northup was Sandusky's leading rusher with 39 yards on nine carries. Derek Neumayer caught four passes for 33 yards.