OTSEGO — The playoffs begin this week for the Dowagiac varsity football team after it failed to secure a spot in the post season on Friday night against Otsego.

Both the Chieftains and the Bulldogs entered Friday night’s Wolverine Conference contest with 5-2 records. In order to advance to the state playoffs, a team must win six or more games.

Otsego built a 21-10 halftime advantage and then held on for a 21-18 win over Dowagiac to punch its ticket to the post season.

The Chieftains will need a win over 7-1 Paw Paw Friday night at Chris Taylor-Alumni Field to advance to the playoffs for the sixth straight year.

“We told them in the end zone after the game in Otsego that the playoffs begin for us next week,” Dowagiac coach Mike Stanger said. “You win and you keep playing. You lose and we turn in equipment on Tuesday and we haven’t done that around here in five years.”

The Chieftains (5-3) have struggled to get off to a quick start much of this season and certainly in the three games they have lost. Dowagiac did it again Friday night, turning the ball over on its second play from scrimmage on a quarterback-center exchange.

“We have to come out and play,” Stanger said. “We can’t be turning the ball over on our second play. We needed our defense to step up and stonewall them, but it didn’t happen. We let them convert five third and over 10 (yards) in the first half. It’s just killing us.”

Otsego (6-2) was able to take advantage of the Chieftain mistakes, both physical and mental, to build a 14-7 lead in the opening 12 minutes of play.

Ashton Bowling scored on a 26-yard run to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 advantage after the Ethan Trobeck kick.

Dowagiac tied the game at 7-7 on a Steven Baylock 5-yard run and a Brett Scanlon extra point.

From there, Otsego took over and sandwiched a Scanlon 43-yard field goal with a pair of touchdowns, the last one in the final half minute of the opening half.

Levi Leversee hauled in a 31-yard touchdown pass from Jared Klein, who finished the night 15-of-25 for 223 yards an a pair of scores. The second Bulldog touchdown was a 5-yard pass from Klein to Ryan Scartt with 29 ticks left on the clock.

That score turned out to be the game-winner as the only scoring in the second half came on a Otsego fumble that was returned 76 yards by Dowagiac’s Tremail Butcher.

The Chieftains had their chances in the second half as they moved the ball on the Bulldogs, but had one drive was killed by a fumble inside the Otsego 25-yard line and the other stalled following a holding penalty in the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs, who rolled up some big offensive numbers in the first half, found the going a little tougher in the second half. Otsego, however, already had done all the damage it needed.

“In the second half I thought the defense played very well,” Stanger said. “They had one drive and that’s the one that Tremail picked up the fumble and returned for a touchdown. Other than that, I think they had three drives where they went backwards before having to punt. We were able to make some small adjustments at halftime, but it’s tough to make adjustments on the fly when most of the kids are playing both ways.”

Leversee finished the night with 154 yards on six receptions, while Bowling was the top rusher for the Bulldogs with only 15 yards on eight carries.

Troy Butcher led Dowagiac on the ground with 75 yards on 12 attempts. Austin Adams added 48 yards and Anthony Nelson 36. The Chieftain quarterback duo of Mike Pranschke and Scanlon were a combined 3-of-6 for 16 yards.

Dowagiac 7 3 0 8 — 18

Otsego 14 7 0 0 — 21

O – Ashton Bowling 26 run (Ethan Trobeck kick)

D – Steven Baylock 5 run (Brett Scanlon kick)

O – Levi Leversee 31 pass from Jared Klein (Trobeck kick)

D – Scanlon 43 field goal

O – Ryan Scott 5 pass from Klein (Trobeck kick)

D – Tremail Butcher 76 fumble return (Anthony Nelson run)