Dragons Reborn

Written Tuesday February 2nd, at 11:08 PM

It has been 23 months since Lake Orion head coach Jim Manzo retired and Dragon Star Drew Maynard reunited with fellow Lake Orion comrade manager Anthony Taormina at Oakland University

It has been 12 months since Lake Orion played one of the worst basketball games of the season, only scoring 22 points against Rochester Adams. That year the Dragons finished 3-17 overall, not including playoffs when they finished 4-18 in their only season under Lance Davis.

However the past is the past and those 12 months that described the Lake Orion boys basketball team are gone, but not forgotten. The culture of Lake Orion basketball is changing, and changing for the good. There are a lot of people that have to be given credit for this turnaround.

Enter Mike Shafkalis, the new Dragons varsity coach. In the past 12 months he was the Junior varsity coach for the team, after previously coming to Lake Orion as an assistant at Birmingham Seaholm. Shafkalis had a good JV team until then coach Lance Davis moved up most of his players up to the varsity, leaving Shafakalis with only seven players on his JV team. In his first year on the varsity level he has gotten the varsity players believing in his system, and it has worked so far. The atmosphere is so much better than it is now.

Next enter Randy Maynard, you guessed it, Drew's Daddy. Maynard has been known as a basketball guru. His daughter Dawn played for Orion girls coach Steve Roberts and the legionary Garry Kibby, and of course we all know with Drew at Oakland. Maynard is the Orion freshman coach, and in many ways is responsible for helping basketball players adjust from Middle School to high school, along with his staff of Erik Kuster, and Tim English.

Next is Dave Tooley, the top assistant coach for the varsity. Tooley is of course the defensive coriander of the Lake Orion varsity football team. Tooley was also a former assistant under Manzo, and was on Davis staff last season. Tooley has been re-energized with Shafakalis because he can install his defense and he can also yell a lot from the bench.

Next is Ron Grubbs. Grubbs is the Junior Varsity coach at Orion. After his stint as Freshman coach, Grubbs went 15-5 with virtually the same team he had last season. Grubbs has virtually kept the same team in tact, and is doing a masterful job at the JV level right now.

Next is Alex Mayo, Mayo is the last of the Jim Manzo era at Lake Orion, Mayo has been through the goods, the bads, and the real bad's. Mayo so far is the team's leading scorer, averaging 15 points per game.

Next is the rest of the Seniors, the Seniors have went through a lot of losing throughout the years together as freshman, sophomores, and juniors. They had to go through two different coaching changes, and that's never an easy thing to do. Now their senior year they are now 8-5 overall, and 5-2 in the OAA White, just one game behind Seaholm for the OAA White.

Next is the parents, it the parents that support the kids, and the program. They went through the pain last year, and now this year even though all the wins were by nine points or less are very happy where the program is going and will continue to support them throughout their ride toward districts.

Next give credit to Lake Orion Athletic Director Bill Reiss, Reiss has given the keys of the basketball program to Shafkalis after a disastrous last season, and it looks like it has been the right choice for not only the team but also the fans, the fan base, and parents who has supported the team.

This year the Dragons were picked to finish last in the OAA White, nobody knew how this team would respond after a 1-3 start, this team could have folded, but they never gave up, they never surrendered, they embraced it. They are a scrappy team who loves to gut it out with other teams. All their wins this season have been by nine points or less. The fans has also been coming out, which is a huge victory for the team, along with the supporting parents.

Maybe the trophy case is going to fill up once again and we could talk division crown or maybe districts or beyond, could it be this year? maybe, the districts is anyone's game with five teams that could win it, Lake Orion, Adams, Clarkston, Romeo, or Stoney Creek. But we all know for sure is the future is bright in Lake Orion and for Lake Orion basketball.