Chippewa Valley will be playing with Heavy Hearts.

Written Friday August 7th, at 8:20 PM
Updated Saturday August 8th at 10:30 PM 

It looks like when the Dragons play Chippewa Valley on August 27th at Wayne State. The Big Reds will play with a heavy heart for the third time.

Duncan Blair, a linebacker and special teams player passed away on Thursday according to the D-Zone and other Twitter Posts. Blair was suppose to be a senior this upcoming season and was expected play a lot for Coach Scott Merchant.

Blair passed away from an off road crash in Oscoda County. His car was traveling on an off road and missed a curve and hit a tree. He was declared dead on the scene by the Oscoda Township Police along  with First Responders and Iosco County EMS. The press release on the crash said that speed was a factor in the crash.

This is the third player in the Chippewa Valley program who has passed away. Alex McMillan passed away in late May and Nick Ureel passed away after a long battle with cancer in 2014.

The Big Reds on their Twitter feed @CVBigReds posted the initials of the three whom have passed away in the program.

Chippewa Valley is one of the favorites in the Macomb Area Red Division, just off a regional final performance in 2014 and will play Orion Week One at Wayne State.

Matchup Dangerous for the Dragons.

This matchup with Chippewa Valley will be a tough match up for the Dragons with the fact the Big Reds have 40 seniors but especially now that Chippewa Valley will be playing with heavy hearts with the recent passing of Duncan Blair.

Which will make it more interesting.

Orion must deal with Patrick Briningstool whom is now six foot and has been working with various quarterback gurus is 6-3 as a starter and can not only throw but run as well.

Briningstool's favorite target will be Stefan Claiborne. Claiborne had two touchdown catches and over 100 yards last season against the Dragons. He also plays free safety on defense. Something that must be noticed.

The question for Chippewa Valley will be the running back spot where Jordan Flakes is expected to take over the position left by Tony Taylor whom got hurt in the Orion game last season.

This game is expected to be a shootout at Wayne State like it was last season when Chippewa Valley won 38-35 at home but there is a big factor that favors the Big Reds. Chippewa Valley has experience playing at Wayne State where they beat Dearborn in 2012 in a overtime game and played Detroit Cass Tech, whom is not too far from Wayne State in Detroit in the regional finals last season.

We'll have more information on OAA Now and also on the two blogs.