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The Eagles were knocked out of a share of the division lead, in a big way, by the Bearcats, who inflicted a 38-0 punishment last Friday evening in Deckerville. The defending East champions fell to 4-1 in the division and 5-2 overall. They will, though get a chance to atone this week at unbeaten Harbor Beach (5-0, 7-0). A victory by Deckerville would force a tie for the championship. Ubly, meanwhile, raised its record to 4-1 in the division and 5-2 overall. The Bearcats can get a share of the title, too, with a win over Sandusky this Friday and an Eagle victory at Harbor Beach. Both Deckerville and Ubly are still seeking a sixth win in the last two weeks of the season to secure a spot in the post-season.

"There is no doubt that this for a championship," said veteran Eagles coach Bill Brown on the upcoming battle with the Pirates. "...our goals are still there - winning a league title, making the playoffs, and winning a District.

"Realistically, we have to play pretty good defense this week," Brown added. "And, we have to generate some offense against, probably, the best defensive team in the area."

Brown also knows the performance against Ubly, where they were manhandled up front, has to change drastically.

"I think the kids will work hard this week. It's like any other week for us, we have to improve," he said. "I don't think emotionally (being ready) will be the hard part."

The Pirates have a veteran line on both sides of the ball, but not as big as Ubly. Defensively, Harbor Beach has recorded five shutouts this fall and allowed four touchdowns for the season. Offensively, the Eagles will face a power running attack that utilizes rugged fullback Brett Bucholz and quick halfback Brion Gornowicz.

Deckerville, meanwhile, on offense will want to establish a running game, but may want to go to the air to help spread the Pirate defense.

A bright spot in the loss to Ubly was the passing combination of sophomore Cody Hoff and senior wide receiver Jake O'Mara.. Hoff completed 8-of-19 passes for 171 yards. O'Mara accounted for all the yardage on six receptions.

It was the Bearcats, though, that did everything they wanted to do by controlling the line of scrimmage and scoring on four of their five possessions in the first half.

Before the first quarter was over, Ubly staked a 12-0 lead behind an 11 yard run by Cody David, who tormented the Eagle defense all night, and a 37 yard scamper by Nathan Forman.

Deckerville came back behind pass plays of 34 and 17 yards to O'Mara to move to the Bearcat 12. The Eagles, though, were stopped on downs.

The Eagles forced Ubly to punt early in the second quarter, but immediately fumbled the ball away to shatter any momentum surge. Ubly went on a 77 yard march, scoring on David's five yard run and a two-point pass from Jordan Kaufman to Mitch Cleary to make it 20-0.

With 18 seconds left in the half. Ubly struck on a 30 yard pass play from Kaufman to Cleary.

On the final play of the half, the Eagles appeared to have the boost they needed when Hoff connected on a pass on the left sideline to O'Mara. The senior receiver slipped away from the defender, raced down the sideline 60 yards only to be tripped up at the five as time ran out.

David, a hard-running, 5'8", 165 pound senior, finished it off for Ubly in the third quarter with TD runs of 37 and 12 yards.

"(Ubly) just beat us up on both sides of the ball," explained Brown. "Offensively, we had to move the ball to keep them off the field, but we didn't do that."

The Eagles had two tasks on defense, keep Kaufman, probably the fastest player in the league, from getting to the outside and stopping the fullback inside.

Brown also had praise for David, "Defensively, we wanted to stop Cody David. We committed a lot of guys to him and we didn't get the job done. But, he also had a heck of a game. He's one heck of a ball player."

The rushing yardage in the game tells a story. The Bearcats gained 394 yards on the ground, 205 coming from David, and the Eagles were held to just 32 yards on 18 carries.