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The Red Raiders were narrowly defeated by the St. Charles Bulldogs, 36-34, on Friday night in the opening round of the Division 6 playoffs. The Bulldogs came into the game ranked second in the division and a perfect 9-0 record.

Marlette, who closed out the season at 6-4, was considered a heavy underdog by many, but didn't appear intimidated by St. Charles' ranking or record.

After a quick and quiet first quarter, Marlette found the end zone first when senior quarterback Austin Comment connected with a wide-open Daniel Gyomory from 44 yards out giving Marlette and early 8-0 lead.

St. Charles didn't waste anytime answering the score as three plays later Ryan Humpert scampered for a 42 yard touchdown run.

On Marlette's next possession, St. Charles recovered a fumble and returned it to the one yard line, setting up the short touchdown run by quarterback Bryan Halas, making it 14-8.

The Bulldogs got good field position again on their next possession after blocking a Marlette punt and recovering it at the Marlette 19 yard line. Three plays later, sophomore Dugan Roosa punched it in on a three yard run giving St. Charles 22 points in less than four minutes.

"We definitely gift wrapped two touchdowns for them right there with the fumble and the blocked punt," Marlette coach Denny Lester said. "You could say it was the difference in the game."

The Red Raiders wasted no time responding. On the first play of the next possession Comment hooked up with John Bishop for a 72 yard touchdown pass, cutting the lead to 22-14.

The Bulldogs started their next drive with 3:30 to go in the half. Ten plays and just over three minutes later, Humpert found paydirt from seven yards out giving St. Charles an apparent 32-14 halftime lead.

However, Marlette, once again, answered with a big play of their own. Jon Hayward took the squib kick and pitched it to Comment at the 20 who dodged and weaved his way 80 yards to the end zone to cut the deficit to 10 points.

"We didn't tell Jon to pitch it to him, it was just something he did. Then he went down and laid a big block to help Austin break free, so it was a great decision on his part," Lester said. "It gave us a lot of momentum going into the half."

That momentum carried over into the third quarter on both sides of the ball for Marlette. After giving up 30 points in the second quarter, the Red Raiders clamped down and kept the Bulldogs out of the end zone.

Offensively, Comment took over for the Red Raiders. He scored on a 37 yard run to cut the lead to 30-26, and then late in the quarter he gave Marlette a 34-30 lead when he ran one in from five yards out.

With their backs against the wall, and their perfect season on the line, the Bulldogs responded midway through the fourth quarter when Humpert scored his third touchdown of the game, this time from three yards away..

Marlette marched the ball down the field to the St. Charles 29. However, the Bulldog defense came up big on a fourth-and-five stopping Marlette's Bishop for a negative gain and essentially clinching the win and ending Marlette's upset bid.

The defender who got Bishop in the backfield made a great individual play," Lester mentioned. "I think we had a lot of open room if that kid didn't make such a good play."

Comment had a part in all five Red Raider touchdowns. He ran for 106 yards and two TDs on 20 carries, and was five-of-six passing for 152 yards and two touchdown passes.

"We have had three years of him making great plays for us. He is a tremendous athlete," Lester stated.

Despite the narrow loss, Lester said he was tremendously proud of how his team competed.

"We preached all week that nobody was giving us a shot to win this, and our kids responded well to that. We thought with playing in a strong conference like ours, that we would be prepared for this game."

While the Red Raiders finished their season, St. Charles goes to 10-0 and will host defending Division 6 state champion, Saginaw Nouvel (6-3), on Friday night, in the Region 2, District 2 championship contest.