Dragons Den Opinion

Written Saturday August 25th, at 8:55 PM

The game with Oxford last night really exposed Lake Orion offense in the first half. The Wildcats were outplaying the Dragons on every phase of the game. The jet sweep offense was not working well. Give credit to the Oxford defense for stopping the jet sweep and going into gaps where the players go during plays.

The Dragons returned to power football for the first time since 2003 in the second half to wear down the Wildcats. Many of them go two ways. This gives the Lake Orion another option to run on offense.

Lake Orion’s defense played real well last night I thought overall. I thought that in the first half they were not in spots to stop Oxford’s offense. At times they struggled with power, dive, and veer option. The biggest fit for the defense was the bootleg, when quarterback Glacier Wallington threw the short slant route to his running back in the first half, leading to the fade touchdown with 33.2 seconds left before halftime. The defense figured some things out and held the Wildcats without a point and once did Oxford get past the 50 yard line in the second half and that was the last play of Oxford’s drive in the game.

Right now I think the defense is farther ahead than the offense but that doesn’t mean the offense can get better, it takes time to do so.

It wasn’t a surprise that both Lake Orion and Clarkston returned to what got them into the party, Power Football. Both the Dragons and Wolves have the personal to do it and it will take time to gel during the season.

If Lake Orion wants to go 2-0 the defense must keep on doing its thing like they did in the second half. The offense has to play better and gel and I felt they struggled finding their identity most of the game against Oxford. Troy Athens will be better than they showed Thursday night at home against Warren Mott. It was shocking to see that Warren Mott destroyed Troy Athens 41-6 at home.

In other games around the state there were other upsets that shocked me throughout the state, I look at the scores and see these happened. Some of these games were head shakers and others just want to make you nod their head in disgust.

Muskegon 21, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 14

Dearborn Fordson 27, Macomb Dakota 17

Warren Mott 41, Troy Athens 6

Midland 29, Plymouth Canton 28 (OT)

Flint Carman Ainsworth 27, Grand Blanc 12

Lowell 16, Rockford 6

DeWitt 38, Mt. Pleasant 14

Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 17, Almont 14

Saline 27, Walled Lake Western 14

Swartz Creek 37, Holly 19

To me the biggest shocker was when Troy Athens fell to Warren Mott. The Red Hawks were a playoff team last season at 7-3 but to come in at home against a good Marauder team and falling flat??? Troy Athens trailed 27-0 at halftime and 41-0 in the fourth quarter. The schedule doesn't get better for the Red Hawks with Lake Orion next at Ford Field and Clarkston, Rochester, and arch rival Troy looming.

Another shocker was Holly, The Bronchos were riding high after a division two playoff berth and took on one of the bottom feeders of the Flint Metro League, the Swartz Creek Dragons. However Holly was upset at home by Swartz Creek and now is under the eight ball at 0-1. I thought Holly would make the playoffs but it's early and they still have to play Linden, Fenton, and Lapeer East are on the schedule and also a rivalry game with Oakland County rival Ortonville Brandon in the Flint Metro.

In non league, division five powerhouse Almont took on Pontiac Notre Dame Prep. Almont returned most of it's team that made the state semifinals however lost at home 17-14 to the Fighting Irish. The kicker of Pontiac Notre Dame Prep was a female on a soccer scholarship to Michigan kicked a 35 yard field goal to stun Almont. It was a shock to me that Almont returned nearly all of it's team and get stunned by Pontiac Notre Dame Prep who lost nearly half of it's team from last season. It won't surprise me that the Irish will be a playoff team this season, and the female kicker will be a big part of it in my opinion. Lahser better beware in a few weeks when they travel to Pontiac to see the Fighting Irish.

Another shocker to me was the Tractors of Dearborn Fordson, The Tractors went to Macomb and shocked Macomb Dakota 27-17. I didn’t like Macomb Dakota’s football uniforms with the Under-Armor jerseys and Nike Pants, it doesn’t seem right. I was really impressed with the Tractors passing game and the never say die attitude that Dearborn Fordson has created since the state semifinal loss to Lake Orion in 2008. For Macomb Dakota this is a tough setback with the MAC Red starting back up. The Cougars still have to play Chippewa Valley who beat Dearborn at Wayne State, Sterling Heights Stevenson who beat Howell, and Romeo who lost a hard fought game to Troy. Let’s not forget Eisenhower. It will be a tough stretch for Macomb Dakota to return to the postseason with the rest of the league better than in previous years.

Another head shaker was in Genesee County when Flint Carman Ainsworth went into Grand Blanc and stunned the Bobcats 27-12. The Cavaliers who recently joined Saginaw Valley Conference from the former Big Nine Conference ran for 346 yards on 41 carries and had 420 total yards against their former Big Nine rival’s defense as a team. Grand Blanc was ranked high in the preseason polls coming into the season and to perhaps do damage in the playoffs. Now with them still having to play Brighton and Hartland in the KLAA West it could be interesting but you have to take care of the teams that are in Genesee County like Davison, Flint Powers Catholic, and Flint Carman Ainsworth and so far the Bobcats haven’t done that. This is a big set back before Kensington Lakes play for Grand Blanc.

Another KLAA team that was shocked was Walled Lake Western by Saline 27-14, Saline played a very good football game and were motivated to make a big splash with it's new coaching staff and the coaches son coming over from Toledo to play in his senior year, he didn't disappoint and made an impact on the field. I just think that the Warriors took the Hornets lightly in that game. I hope that is not a omen of bad things to come for them especially with Walled Lake Central and Walled Lake Northern are going to be good once again.

Canton and Midland was a very good and well played game. I thought that with Chiefs being at home would win this game but the Chemics with its big line up front never quit and battled until the very end to force overtime 21-21 all. Canton scored a touchdown early in the overtime session but the Chemics answered in scoring a touchdown then they went for two and connected on it to beat the Chiefs in overtime 29-28. Midland traveled two hours from Midland County down US-23 into Wayne County for this game and it was worth it in the end. I'm not sure what division Midland would be in for playoffs they will be dangerous for anybody in the postseason.

I was shocked how Ralph Munger didn’t create more options for his team against Lowell, despite the fact that his playbook is from basically California to New York and his knowledge on offense. The Red Arrows stunned the Rams 16-6 at Rockford. Lowell does run a veer option offense but the inability of Rockford’s offense was more shocking to say the least. I can see the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red being a three team race between Grand Haven, Rockford, and Muskegon, whom took down Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 21-14 on Friday night.

As I finish looking around the state I seen Mt. Pleasant who had a strong season last year play yet another Division three powerhouse Dewitt. The Oilers shockingly were no match for Panthers 38-14. Mt. Pleasant couldn't overcome a performance from a sophomore running back who went nuts on them. Also what didn't help the Oilers was that they turned the ball over six times and felt that mistakes cost them the game. It wouldn’t surprise me if these two teams see each other again in the playoffs.

Week Two to say the least should be an interesting week of more football.