The Lake Orion Dragons scored quickly and often early in their Oakland Activities Association game against Troy Athens Friday, then rode a stifling defense and a strong rushing attack to coast to a 45-7 win.
Sean Charette found Mike Nelson with a 33-yard scoring strike on Lake Orion’s third play of the game and the Dragons used a one-play drive to notch their second touchdown to build a 14-0 lead and never looked back.
The first touchdown came after Athens tried a fake punt on its first possession; the second score – a 58-yard run by Marques Stevenson – came on the first play after the Dragon defense forced an actual Athens punt.
“We did some good things and made some big plays when it counted,” Lake Orion coach Chris Bell said. “Athens was junking up their defensive fronts and was playing man coverage, so that opened them up to giving up some big plays and our kids took advantage of that.”
Lake Orion racked up 273 yards on 33 carries – more than 8 yards per carry – on the ground, led by Stevenson, who carried just five times for 109 yards, helped in large measure by key downfield blocking by wideout Zack Zott. Kim Bruce chipped in 73 yards on 11 carries.
Charette finished 11-of-17 for 164 yards and threw for two scores – the one to Nelson and a 31-yarder to Danny Ney late in the game. Zott finished with four catches for 33 yards.
The Dragons held Athens to just 56 yards rushing and 101 yards passing. Bell said defensive end John Hill “played his best game of the year,” while singling out the play of defensive back Vinny Booker and linebacker Kayne Hayes, whom the coach said “have been constant strong points all season.”
Athens got its only touchdown with a little help from the Dragons, who contributed 35 yards in penalties to Athens’ 80-yard scoring drive, which culminated in a 1-yard run by Joe Kemp.
Stevenson broke off a 45-yard run to put the Dragons up 21-7 with 4:52 left in the first half. Dragon defensive tackle Pat Fehlberg then recovered a fumble on Athen’s next possession, setting up a 33-yard drive that ended when Kim scored from two yards out.
Kyle Searle kicked a 35-yard field goal as the first half expired to increase Lake Orion’s lead to 31-7. Charette’s pass to Ney and Cole Schaenzer’s 1-yard touchdown run o a quarterback sneak capped the scoring.
The Dragons picked up 444 yards in total offense, got a 6-for-6 performance from Searle on PATs and played all 91 players on their roster in picking up the easy win.
They did fumble twice – “We have to clean up the turnovers and eliminate some assignment mistakes,” Bell said – but are in pretty good position going into Friday’s Homecoming battle with Troy.
“We have been playing pretty good and hopefully we are developing the consistency that we need,” Bell said. “We have a big game this week against Troy. We are excited about Homecoming, but we have to fight against the distractions that come with it and focus on what we need to do for this game.”