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The Eagles, defending GTC East champions, held on Friday night at Marlette's homecoming for a 30-28 victory and maintained a share of the division lead. Deckerville is 4-0 in the East, tied with Harbor Beach on top, and 5-1 overall, just a victory away from assuring a playoff spot with three weeks remaining. Meanwhile, Marlette slipped to 2-3 in the East and 3-3 overall, needing to win out to guarantee a post-season bid.

The offenses scored 52 of the 58 points in the first half - Deckerville using its power running out of the Wing-T and the Raiders utilizing their quickness in the spread. After the first two possessions of the night, touchdowns were traded in the next seven.

The last one, with :07 seconds left in the half, proved to be the biggest.

With the Eagles on top 24-22, sophomore quarterback Cody Hoff, on one of his few carries on the night, capped a 48 yard drive with his five yard TD run that eventually, and unexpectedly, held up as the winning score.

Both teams made adjustments and the defenses responded. The lone score of the second half came on a great 81 yard draw play by quarterback Austin Comment of Marlette with 11:33 left in the fourth quarter. That drew the Raiders within two, 30-28.

"Defensively, it took us time to adjust to their speed," said Bill Brown, Deckerville coach. "We didn't change much at halftime. But, we were making the game faster than it was in the first half." The playmaking ability of Comment out of the shotgun, and others like split back/receiver John Bishop were the challenge for the Eagle defense

"We got after (Comment) a little bit, but, mainly, we tackled better," he added. "Comment makes people miss - him and Bishop. They take (tackling) angles away."

Meanwhile, the Raiders, a smaller team up front than Deckerville, realigned its defense against the running game that pounded out four TD drives in the first half.

"We made some nice adjustments at the half and the kids came out and executed well," said Marlette coach Dennis Lester. "We made a couple of good stands. I was real proud of the kids the way they stepped up and played defense."

An early break led to Deckerville getting on theboard first in the opening quarter and taking a lead they would never relinquish. The Eagles recovered a Marlette fumble on the Raider 27 and quickly moved in on junior Marcus Kemp's five yard Td run. Kemp added the conversion. Conversions would prove to be a difference. Deckerville made all five of theirs and Marlette converted on three of five.

Less than two minutes later, Marlette scored on a 33 yard pass play from Comment to Bishop to make it 8-6.

Deckerville came back to use better than six minutes up on a 55 yard march, ending on a one yard run by Kemp and another Kemp two-pointer.

It was the Raiders turn next. After a 48 yard Comment-to-Bishop play took the ball to the Eagle eight. Comment connected on a 10 yard scoring pass to David Bliss on fourth down. This time, running back Jon Hayward ran in the two-pointer to make it 16-14.

With 3:34 to go in the half, the Eagles Tony Santana busted out on a fourth and short play to score from 25 yards away. Kemp followed with his third conversion run.

Then, before Hoff's late score, Bishop took the ensuing kick off back to the Eagles 48. Comment did the rest in two plays, the first on 34 yard run and the next to paydirt on a 14 yard scamper. Bishop's run on the conversion made it 24-22.

The Raiders would get their defense tested right away in the second half when the Eagles recovered a fumble at the Marlette 30. This time, the Raider defense held, and that set the tone for the rest of the game.

The lone exception came on Comment's long TD run. After a Deckerville punt to the five Raider five, Marlette picked up one first down before Comment called the draw. He scooted through an opening in the middle, slipped to the right side, eluded one tackle and raced the 85 yards for the score. The crucial two-pointer was stopped, though, when Comment was hit on an option pitch. Hayward picked up the loose ball but was stopped short of the goal line.

The Eagles' lone scoring threat in the half was stopped at the Marlette two on a fourth-and-goal when linebacker Brian McClelland tripped up Kemp at the line of scrimmage.

Deckerville then held the Raiders on downs and were able to run out the clock to preserve the win.

"Both trams deserved to win. Both played hard," said Lester. "That's what high school football is all about. There's not a person there that walked out the gate that didn't get their money's worth."

The number of offensive plays by both teams shows the difference in styles. The Eagles ran the ball 62 times for 263 yards and were 1-of-3 passing for 32 yards. The Raiders gained 246 yards on the ground in just 24 carries and passed for 124 on Comment's 8-of-12.

Kemp led the Deckerville attack with 120 yards rushing on 33 tries, the most carries in one game in his brief varsity career. Santana added 70 on 12 totes.

Comment, a senior, accounted for 178 yards rushing on 14 carries and all of the passing yards.

"Austin had a tremendous game," Lester remarked. "He made big plays. Anytime we can get him some space, we're confident he'll break something big."

The Eagles will continue their quest for an East repeat this Friday with a major confrontation at home against Ubly (3-1, 4-2). The Bearcats have been a different team in the last two weeks, following a lopsided loss to Harbor Beach, with the return of quarterback Jordan Kaufman. The converted running back is, perhaps, the most explosive athlete in the GTC. He had missed the first four weeks of the regular season with a broken collarbone.

"We definitely need to contain that quarterback - we've got to stop Kaufman," said Brown, "and we've got to stop the run. He'll fake down on that off-tackle play and he's going to keep it. And, we've got to stop the fullback."

The Bearcats will also run power inside behind the biggest offensive line in the East.

While the Bearcats will also be trying to move closer to a playoff berth, they also have their backs against the wall in the title chase. Ubly needs wins over Deckerville and Sandusky and a Harbor Beach loss in the last two weeks to gain a share of the division championship. The Eagles can get an outright title for the second straight year by topping Ubly and then going to Harbor Beach for a win on Oct. 12.

Marlette, in order to secure post-season play, needs to close with wins at Brown City (1-4, 1-5) and Mayville (1-3, 1-5) to close East play and then at home against Peck (6-0) in the regular-season finale on Oct. 19.