Though Lake Orion and Clarkston played for 48 minutes for the district championship on Nov. 4, the Dragons needed less than 30 seconds of the third quarter to wrest control of the game.
? With 8:39 left in the third quarter, the Dragons? David Wurst celebrated a 34-yard touchdown reception from Brad Hood; his team up 14-6.
? With 8:23 left in the third quarter, Lake Orion had the ball on the Clarkston 4-yard line after recovering a fumble.
? With 8:18 left in the third quarter, the Dragons? Aaron Allen popped the ball across the goal line to give Lake Orion a 21-6 lead.
‘We knew we had to be aggressive. Bottom line. You are not going to just run the ball between the tackles and beat (Clarkston). We had to open it up and be aggressive,? said Lake Orion Coach Chris Bell.
The Wolves lost three fumbles during the contest and were intercepted once. Turnovers were somewhat contagious as Lake Orion threw two interceptions and lost one fumble.
‘We just turned the ball over too much,? said Clarkston Coach Kurt Richardson. ‘We had our chances, we just couldn’t capitalize on them?
The Dragons added another third quarter touchdown with 2:01 left to go up 28-6 after Dylan Van Fossen made his fourth straight extra-point conversion. Cornered into action by the scoreboard, the Wolves responded immediately, traversing 67 yards in under two minutes, with the bulk of the yardage coming on a 41-yard pass play from junior Eric Ogg to senior Kyle Cummings. Senior Nick DeVault cleaved through the Lake Orion defense to score on a 2-yard run with only four seconds off the clock in the fourth quarter. Clarkston’s second failed two-point conversion of the contest made the score 28-12 in the Dragons? favor.
From Clarkston’s second touchdown on though, every break the Wolves caught was accompanied by another pitfall.
An interception by senior David Briceland in the Wolves end zone with 7:59 to play went for naught as the Dragons? Troy Anderlie took the ball back soon after, picking off an errant pass with 6:57 to play.
Anderlie’s interception spurred a small exodus of fans from the Clarkston sideline, though many remained to the end as the Wolves faithful spilled from the visitor’s stands to encircle the field’s oval track throughout the contest. After the game, Lake Orion officials estimated 6,000 people were in attendance.
Feeling assured of victory late in the fourth quarter, the Lake Orion crowd seemingly got a frog in their throat en masse when junior Kevin Badgley caught an innocent pass from Ogg over the middle ? then proceeded to pull away from three defenders for a 74-yard touchdown. After Ogg and Briceland converted two-points on a quick pass to make the score 28-20 with 3:40 remaining, the Wolves fans were given opportunity to flex their well rested vocal cords.
‘We knew it was going to be a four-quarter game. We went in at halftime and said ‘We played 24 minutes and we have the lead.? The guys came out and played a great third quarter. Clarkston made some plays like they always do and we just hung on,? said Bell.
After forcing a punt to get the ball back on their own 17-yard line with 2:09 remaining in the game, any last-second, game-tying dreams were dashed as a miscue on a snap sent the ball into the Wolves end zone, where Ogg had no other option but to take a safety ? placing the final accent on Lake Orion’s 30-20 victory.
‘These kids have been awesome,? said Richardson. ‘They’ve been fun to coach and (the seniors) have been good leaders. I hate to see them go.?
Many of the departing Wolves seniors turned in well crafted performances in their final high school football game. Cummings rushed for 115 yards on seven carries and added 34 yards catching the rock. DeVault finished with 79 yards on 11 carries to go with his touchdown. On defense, senior Reed Body led the Wolves with eight solo and 10 total tackles. Briceland recorded five solo tackles, intercepted two Dragon passes and recovered a fumble forced by sophomore Carlo Mollicone.
The fumble recovery may have some Clarkston fans grumbling for years about what could have been. After scooping the ball up at the Wolves 1-yard line, Briceland had seemingly scored on a 99-yard return before a penalty brought the ball back to Clarkston’s 35-yard line. The Wolves ensuing drive failed to gain momentum and they were forced to punt.
Lake Orion quickly marched down the field and broke the scoreless tie as Steve Garber broke the plane with 1:33 remaining in the first half. Clarkston did respond quickly as Cummings broke a 67-yard run to the 4-yard line to set up Ogg nosing the ball into the end zone with :23 seconds left in the second quarter. A failed two-point conversion run led to the 7-6 score at the half.
Clarkston finishes the season with an 8-3 record.