Districts Announced, Dragons will meet Clarkston again in a Round One playoff match

Written on Sunday October 25^th, at 10:20 PM

Remember 42-13, Dragons that will be the motivation call for this week against Clarkston.

“But I’ll tell you what; I don’t want to play them again” Clarkston football coach Kurt Richardson after the 42-13 victory over Lake Orion on Friday Night at Clarkston, in the Oakland Press.

Well Kurt, your going to play them again, unfortunately. The Michigan High School Athletic Association had its annual State playoff parings for the 2009 season, on Sunday night. The MHSAA announced that Kurt Richardson’s Wolves would play it’s Oakland Activities Association Red division arch rival the Dragons again, in the first round of the state playoffs in the Division One, Region Three, District One bracket, which will likely be Friday night back at Clarkston.

The Wolves finished the season with nine wins and zero losses and is currently number six in Division One, they won the OAA Red handily over the Dragons 42-13 last week. They are the number two seed in the district, while the Dragons who finished with seven wins and two losses are the number three seed and ranked 18^th in Division One. Both Lake Orion and Clarkston are in a district with two other teams from two difference conferences, the Kensington Lakes Activities Association and the Macomb Area Conference.

The top seed in the district is KLAA West Division champion Grand Blanc Bobcats. The Bobcats have nine wins and zero losses so far this season, and is ranked fifth in Division One. They beat Howell in week four (34-33) in Livingston County, and Walled Lake Central (28-0) at Walled Lake in week eight in a crossover between the KLAA North and KLAA West champions, for their two biggest wins of the season. It was expected that Grand Blanc to many experts that they would get a number one seed in the districts.

The fourth seed was MAC Red division powerhouse Romeo Bulldogs. The Bulldogs have seven wins and two losses this season. They played division games against Sterling Heights Stevenson (42-7 loss), Dakota (33-17 loss), Chippewa Valley (40-7 win), and Ike, and all those teams are in the playoffs. The Bulldogs big win of the season was a mud bowl at Dan Barnabo Stadium, 10-3 in week seven over Ike. Both Romeo and Grand Blanc will play each other in the other half of the district, Friday in Genesee County. The winner of this game will go on to face either the Dragons or the Wolves next week.

The fourth seeded in the district was a complete shocker to me and a lot of other experts as well. Many people thought it would be the Pontiac Phoenix, the new school that merged both Pontiac Northern and Pontiac Central together who would join Lake Orion, Clarkston, and Grand Blanc as the fourth member of the district. However the MHSAA sent the Phoenix east to District Two with Macomb Dakota, Chippewa Valley, and Utica Eisenhower. For a reward the Phoenix will host another MAC Red powerhouse in Utica Eisenhower (better known as Ike) at Wisner Stadium, but back to Lake Orion/Clarkston round two.

Same field, same teams, both teams will also wear the same jerseys as they did last week (Clarkston: Blue, Lake Orion: White) but it whole new ballgame now, everybody has a clean slate. For Dragon players, parents, coaches, and fans, it hopes to be a different result then the week nine beat down they took against the Wolves. They will likely hear it from their Wolves counterparts all week about how good Clarkston is, and how bad Lake Orion played. For Wolves players, parents, coaches, and fans they will celebrate the OAA Red division championship and bragging rights over the Dragons for now, but they want to be where the Dragons were at last year and that was the State Finals at Ford Field.

However where will Clarkston’s mindset be, has the beat down at home against the Dragons helped their confidence or have they awaken an angry giant? Will the Dragons have enough in the tank to stop quarterback Tyler Scarlett and running back Dakota Bender who combined for 325 yards and five touchdowns rushing in their week nine loss to the Wolves?

We’ll find out Friday, if Clarkston can become the second team in this rivalry to beat the Dragons, twice in one season, since the 2005 Lake Orion Dragons, who won 27-21 in double overtime, and also 30-20 that same year in the playoffs. The Wolves hold a 21-19 record overall in the past 50 years this rivalry existed against the Dragons, including last week.