Dunkirk’s Chris Ortiz runs away for one of his three touchdowns against Burgard on Wednesday in the Chuck Funke Bowl. The Marauders took down the Bulldogs by a final score of 36-26. OBSERVER Photo by Ron Szot.

Coming off a 45-16 loss to Fredonia to end the regular season, Dunkirk was tasked with rebounding on a short week against a familiar foe, Burgard, who the Marauders shared the division with a year ago. The Dunkirk seniors wanted to go out on a better note, and Wednesday’s Chuck Funke Bowl postseason football game provided that for the Marauders.

But this game wasn’t about what happened in the past, even as recently as five days prior. As one enthusiastic Burgard fan consistently shouted throughout the game, this game was about “Right here,” and “Right now!”

The rest of the Dunkirk home stands certainly heard her words all throughout the first half, and by the way the Marauders came out in the second half, it appears they may have too.

The Dunkirk Marauders used a strong defensive showing in the second half and a pair of touchdown passes from Phil Messina to Peyton Ahlstrom to pull away from Burgard in a 36-26 victory in the opening round of the Chuck Funke Bowl at Dunkirk High School.

“Our focus has been the same as it’s been every week. As long as we keep getting better, we’re going to be fine,” said Dunkirk coach Mike Sarratori. “To be 5-3 with this group — a young group that’s not quitting — that’s pretty darn impressive for these kids.”

Dunkirk (5-3) started out strong on Wednesday, as the Marauders forced a three-and-out to start the game. The Dunkirk offense responded to take an early 6-0 lead, on a 40-yard touchdown run by Christian Ortiz.

Burgard appeared likely to be stopped on the next drive, but the visiting Bulldogs converted on a 4th-and-15 with an inside screen pass for a first down. The Bulldogs found the endzone later on the drive and tied the score at 6-all.

Ortiz finding the endzone was a theme for the Marauders throughout the first half. After a 40-yard carry set Dunkirk up in 1st-and-goal, Ortiz punched it in from four yards out. After a two-point conversion, Dunkirk led 14-6 with 3:26 left in the first quarter.

While Ortiz finding the endzone was a positive trend for the Marauders in the first half, a negative trend was allowing fourth down conversions. On 4th-and-22 from the Dunkirk 32-yard line, Burgard connected on a touchdown pass to cut the Marauders’ lead to just two points.

Just plays later, Ortiz broke through the line and took a carry 52 yards for his third touchdown of the first half. Dunkirk quarterback Phil Messina ran the ball in for a two-point conversion for a 22-12 Dunkirk lead.

The fourth down conversions came back to bite Dunkirk again, as Burgard converted on a 4th-and-4 in Dunkirk territory on the next drive. Burgard eventually scored on a 17-yard touchdown pass and converted a two-point conversion, which once again cut the Dunkirk lead to two points. That 22-20 score would hold the rest of the first half.

In the second half, Messina and Peyton Ahlstrom began a Dunkirk trend of their own. On back-to-back drives in the third quarter, Messina connected with Ahlstrom in the redzone for a touchdown — the first being an 11-yard pass, the second from 13 yards out. Dunkirk led 36-20 after the two scores and held that advantage as the fourth quarter commenced.

The fourth quarter provided Dunkirk with a big challenge, as Messina went down with an upper body injury after a run with just over nine minutes remaining in the contest. Messina was visibly in a lot of pain and had to leave the game after spending several minutes down on the turf. He was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game and left the field with his arm in a sling.

“We lost our leader tonight in Phil,” said Sarratori. “Hopefully he’ll be back next week.”

Alex Ahlstrom came in for Messina at quarterback and nearly put the game out of reach. He was stopped at the goal-line on a quarterback keeper on 4th-and-goal from the 7-yard line, which left Burgard down by 16.

The Bulldogs once again converted on fourth down, this time for yet another touchdown, from 51 yards out with 2:20 left in the game.

“I don’t know if that’s a let-up on our part, a psychological let-up because it was 4th-and-long,” said Sarratori. “… but it’s something we definitely have to figure out. But Burgard did make some nice plays.”

Dunkirk survived the two-point conversion on an offensive pass interference call against Burgard, which left the deficit as more than one score. Dunkirk recovered the onside kick and ran the clock out to come away on top.

Dunkirk now looks ahead to next week’s Chuck Funke Bowl final, against the winner of tonight’s matchup of Lew-Port and Depew. The game will be Wednesday, in Dunkirk should Lew-Port win, or at Depew should Depew win.

“If we can end this season at 6-3 with a championship in the Class B Funke Bowl, with a young group like this, that’s a compliment to these kids,” said Sarratori.

Twitter: @bradencarmen