Advertisement

While the Raiders, seeking to stay in the GTC East football title chase, had opportunities early to do damage against unbeaten Harbor Beach. It was the Pirates that struck fast, with a big-play passing attack, to score three first quarter touchdowns and go on to a 27-0 win over Marlette. The Pirates, with their fifth straight victory of the season, went to 3-0 in the East and remain in a share of the lead with Deckerville. The Raiders fell to 2-2 in the division, likely ending their title hopes, and are now 3-2 overall.

Two stories unfolded in the first half that meant everything in this game. Marlette moved the ball well against a Pirate defense that has allowed just 24 points this season, but snuffed its own cause with two turnovers and two drives stopped inside the Beach 20.

The second story, from an offense that likes to line up power the ball with its strong front line, was quarterback Tom Sorenson connecting on five big pass plays to Travis Schock. The first three led to all 21 points for Beach in the opening 12 minutes.

Dennis Lester, Marlette coach, can look back and say things could have been a little different. He knew coming in, though, his smaller Raider team could not afford the offensive mistakes.

"We had a couple of turnovers and it was also our inability to score in the red zone," said Lester. "We moved the ball fairly well, but then it seemed like we could not make a play when we needed to. But, (Harbor Beach) is a good football team. They're physical."

On the third play of the game, shifty Marlette back Jon Hayward danced through the HB defense on a 15 yard run to the Harbor Beach 40, but fumbled in his effort to keep driving and the Pirates recovered.

Moments later, Sorenson showed off his arm on a 40 yard pass to Schock that put the ball in the Raider17. Beach then capped off the quick strike with a one yard TD run from Brion Gornowich and Schock's extra point kick.

Marlette came right back, ripping off three straight first downs to the HB 21. After moving to the 15, the drive ended on fourth down when a pass sailed high on an open receiver near the 10.

The Pirates retaliated with a scoring drive that ended in a four yard TD run from Shane Ginther. The score was set up on 24 yard pass from Sorenson to Schock.

Before the Raiders could settle into their next offensive possession, Harbor Beach intercepted quarterback Austin Comment's long pass near mid-field. Sorenson then went deep again to Schock, who appeared to be defended well, on a 43 yard gainer. One play later, Brett Bucholz scored from 10 yards out. Schock's kick made it 21-0 just before the end of the quarter.

Marlette's explosive offensive did not shut down, though. The Raiders strung together three quick first downs and reached the Pirate nine yard line before the Beach defense stiffened.

Sorenson, a senior, completed just five passes in the games, but all were to Schock, a sticky-handed 6'3" junior, for 138 yards.

Lester said he knew his secondary might be vulnerable because the defensive strategy against the bigger Pirates was to slow down their running game.

"We felt if we were going to stop something, we wanted to stop the run first." Lester then added that some of the pass plays that clicked were covered well. "The defensive backs have to learn to play the football. We had position."

Harbor Beach closed out the scoring late in the third quarter on a five yard run from Gornowich.

The Pirates, along with the big passing night, had 245 yards rushing, including 145 from Gornowich.

Marlette finished with a net 78 yards on the ground, Hayward gaining 71 on 15 carries. In the air, Comment connected on 8-of-19 for 117. John Bishop caught three passes for 68 yards and David Bliss added four receptions for 48.

Defensively, linebacker Brian McClelland was in on 12 tackles for the Raiders.

With four games remaining on the schedule, Marlette will be looking for a strong finish. Three wins will secure a spot in the playoffs. However, first up in that quest are the Deckerville Eagles (3-0, 4-1). The defending East champions are the Raiders' homecoming guests this Friday night.

Meanwhile, the Pirates may be looking down the road to Deckerville. After facing 1-4 teams in Sandusky and Mayville in the next two weeks, Harbor Beach closes East play at home against the Eagles on Oct. 12.