The Lake Orion football program is not necessarily known for kicking field goals.
That changed on Friday night, as Jeff Heath’s 23-yarder gave the Dragons a come-from-behind 24-21 victory over host Romeo and sent them to a rematch next week at Clarkston in a district final.
Romeo led throughout in the rainy and muddy conditions, but Lake Orion tied the game on a 12-play, five-and-a-half minute drive that ended with a James Miller one-yard touchdown run with under five minutes left.
After Romeo went three-and-out on a drive that went 24 yards in the wrong direction, Lake Orion had a chance for the game-winning drive.
On fourth down and three from the Romeo 32, quarterback Chris Lum took a naked bootleg five yards for a first down. Three plays later, on third and 14 from the 31, Branden Oakes ran off 21 yards on a draw play, setting up a first a goal.
Without timeouts and the clock running under 30 seconds, the Dragons ran Oakes up the middle for five more yards and spiked the ball to set up Heath.
Romeo called a pair of timeouts, but it wasn’t enough to throw off the Lake Orion junior, who took over extra point-kicking duties just last week.
Romeo’s last-ditch effort on the ensuing kickoff return went nowhere, ending their season at 8-2. The 7-3 Dragons, who got their two other touchdowns from Oakes, will get another shot at the Wolves next Friday at 7 p.m.
For more on the game and a preview of next week’s action, come back to The Review on Wednesday.