Dragons fall to Wolves in a thriller, draw Walled Lake Central in the playoffs

Written Sunday October 23rd, at 10:28 PM

What a wild one that took place on Friday night in Clarkston, however for the Dragons it was a sad one.

Already up 31-21 with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Dragons saw their lead blow away as the Wolves came back with a late touchdown by quarterback Mitch Benagier with 59.1 seconds remaining in the game and stunned the Dragons 38-31 and saw Clarkston not only share the OAA Red championship with the Dragons but get into the playoffs and were rewarded with a home game with Pontiac.

Senior quarterback Sean Charette had three passing touchdowns, Junior wide reciever Chaz Miller had two touchdown passes from Charette. Junior running back Jacob Miller did add a touchdown against a good Wolves defense in the loss.

Add to that the Wolves (6-3, 6-1 OAA Red) get to host the entire district round, if they get past the Phoenix.

The Dragons finished the year at 6-3 overall and 6-1 in the OAA Red division drew the Walled Lake Central Vikings in the playoffs. The match-up is set for Friday night at 7 PM at Dragon Stadium. The last time these two teams met in the playoffs was 2002 when the Dragons defeated the Vikings 35-28 at Lake Orion. The Vikings come into the playoffs at 6-3 and 4-1 in the Kensington Lakes Athletic Association North Division, which was good for second place behind arch rival Walled Lake Western.

The Vikings are a running team with a Wing T offense along with a veer offense as well, something the Dragons have not seen all year. The Vikings feature quarterback Zac Leimbach, Leimbach is a senior and is Walled Lake Central's best player and their leader. Leimbach is a three sport athlete (football, basketball, and baseball,) he does have a strong arm, good speed, and he's tough. Leimbach did have to deal with some adversity in his life. His father Mark Leimbach passed away after a ten year battle with cancer last spring before the regional in Baseball.

Walled Lake Central does feature other good players and they do have a good defense. Central has lost some tough games. They lost two weeks ago to Brighton 28-24 and in week six lost to arch rival Walled Lake Western 18-11 for the KLAA North and in week one, got crushed by Plymouth Canton 42-14. So Friday Night with Orion and Walled Lake Central should be a good one to watch at Lake Orion.