By Jim Newell
Managing Editor
ORION TWP. — The Lake Orion varsity football team sits alone atop the OAA Red division.
Lake Orion upset the West Bloomfield Lakers, the No. 3-ranked team in the state, 17-13 in dramatic fashion at Dragon Stadium on Friday. This is the first time the Dragons have beat the Lakers since 2013.
The Dragons, who entered the game ranked ninth in the state, are now 4-0 (2-0 OAA Red) on the season, while West Bloomfield falls to 3-1 (0-1 OAA Red).
Before the start of the season, Lake Orion head coach Chris Bell knew that in order to challenge for the OAA Red the Dragons would have to beat the Lakers
“I expect us to be very good, I really do. I expect us to be in the hunt for our league title. I expect us to be a playoff team,” Bell said. “In our league if you don’t bring your ‘A’ game every week you’re going to get beat. I think the last several years have shown that we play in one of the best leagues in the state of Michigan. West Bloomfield, right now, will be the favorite. Which is fine. They’ve been the favorite year-in-year-out. We have to reestablish ourselves. We’ve got to beat them.”
Lake Orion got on the board first in the game with a 36-yard field goal to go up 3-0. By the end of the first half the game was tied 10-10.
West Bloomfield came out in the second half and scored a field goal, giving the Lakers the 13-10, which they held for most of the second half. Lake Orion did not score in the third quarter, but held West Bloomfield to a scoreless fourth quarter.
With the game still tied at 10 late in the game, Lake Orion put together a four-minute, 58-yard scoring drive. Dragon quarterback Tristan Hill completed a six-yard pass to receiver Jahmari Cooper with just under a minute-and-a-half to play, putting the Dragons up 17-13.
On its final possession, West Bloomfield drove to midfield but Lake Orion’s defense got a sack with 15 seconds on the clock. The Lakers did not get off another play and Lake Orion celebrated its first victory over West Bloomfield in 10 years.
Lake Orion had 238 total yards of offense, while West Bloomfield racked up 344 yards of total offense. The Dragons had only 53 yards passing to the Lakers’ 328 yards in the air.
On the ground, however, Lake Orion out ran West Bloomfield 185 yards to just 16 yards for the Lakers – a 4.51 per carry average compared to West Bloomfield’s 0.7-yard average.
Lake Orion senior running back Billy Roberson had 25 carries for 124 yards, quarterback Tristan Hill had eight carries for 33 yards and Raymond Payne and Jackson Vasquez had 15 and 13 yards, respectively, for the Dragons.
Hill was 5-14, passing for 53 yards and two touchdowns, one to Roberson and the other to Cooper.
On defense, Carson Negri racked up 13 tackles for the Dragons while Kaydon Degraffenreid had 12 tackles and an interception. Joey DeBrincat had 10 tackles for Lake Orion,
West Bloomfield also had 10 penalties for 105 yards to just 32 penalty yards for Lake Orion.
Lake Orion competes in the Oakland Activities Association Red Division, which includes Clarkston, Oxford, West Bloomfield, Rochester Adams and Stoney Creek high schools.
Lake Orion takes on the Stoney Creek Cougars at 7 p.m. Friday at Dragon Stadium. The Cougars (1-3, 0-2 OAA Red) are coming off a 10-14 loss to Clarkston, the only other remaining undefeated team in the OAA Red Division (2-2 overall).