Dragons Survive Knights Despite Poor Officiating On Both Sides.

Written Saturday October 26th, at 2:15 AM

The Dragons defense returned just for one week but it was a big one.

Lake Orion found a way to survive horrible officiating and a very talented Oak Park Knights 19-14 at Lake Orion High School.

The scoring which was thought to be a shootout ended up being a low scoring game. Both the Dragons defense and the Knights defense came to play tonight.

Oak Park led by Chance Savage was huge in stopping the jet sweep offense of Lake Orion while the Dragons defense led by Brad Chisholm had three interceptions.

The Knights would score first as Ricardo Brown ran in for a one yard touchdown. That play was set up when Chauncey Bowman connected on a fourth down play to the Lake Orion One yard line and was moving the ball at will early. Oak Park would lead 7-0.

The Dragons then went down the field and with the jet sweep neutralized went to their power offense connecting on a couple fourth downs in the process. Lake Orion would answer when quarterback Conner Grant found Chris Leigh in the end zone for a 15 yard touchdown to tie the score 7-7.

Lake Orion had a chance to go up 14-7 when Chisholm intercepted a Bowman pass which was returned to the five yard line by a saving tackle from Brown. Oak Park would stop the Dragons and it eventually led to Brad Schaenzer missing a 29 yard chip shot field goal, wide left.

Oak Park would take advantage of the missed field goal attempt with their screen passing game and their athletes. The Knights went down the field and was aided by a personal foul penalty, scored a touchdown when John Kelly ran for eight yards and the score read 14-7 Oak Park.

The Dragons were shut down by the Knights defense which led to a punt. Oak Park went down the field along with the aid of two personal foul penalties but ran out of time as they had one attempt to pass into the end zone but it was incomplete, the score read 14-7 in favor of the visitors.

Lake Orion would start with the ball and went down the field with their power package. The field position the Dragons got led to a Dominic Giovinnazoo ten yard touchdown run but Schaenzer missed the PAT wide left again, making the score 14-13 Oak Park.

The Dragons would then grab another interception as Christian James picked off Lowman and took the ball deep into Oak Park territory. There was a questionable incomplete call when Grant actually connected with Schaenzer for what was thought to be a touchdown but the referees ruled it incomplete. The call infuriated the Dragons sideline and especially Dragons coach Chris Bell. The call stood and the Knights stood tall. Schaenzer came in and attempted another field goal but missed wide right keeping the score 14-13 Oak Park heading into the fourth quarter.

The biggest play of the game came in the fourth quarter when Logan Shaidia jumped up and picked off a Lowman pass which gave the Dragons good field position at mid field. Corey Ester got his best run of the night as he went for 15 yards on that drive. The play by Ester led to a Leigh 29 yard touchdown run but the two point conversion was missed when Ester and Savage collided. Both of them did not return in the game.

The Knights would have one more shot but was shut down late by the Dragons defense on the Lake Orion 30 yard line. The Dragons would force Oak Park to turn the ball over on downs with seven minutes left in the game.

The Dragons moved the ball well and got a favorable spot on what the Knights thought they had stopped them but the spot gave Lake Orion a first down and Oak Park coach Greg Carter was furious along with the Knights sidelines over the spot. The Dragons would then end up running out the clock after Oak Park got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to wrap the game up.

Oak Park now sits at 5-4 but they had opportunities to get that sixth win of the season but did not do so. The Knights have lost the last three games by a combine of 15 points. It wouldn’t surprise me if Oak Park hears its name called in the playoffs on Fox Sports Detroit at 7 PM for Division Two but it also wouldn't as well as some big teams won big games tonight like U-D Jesuit over Birmingham Seaholm.

Lake Orion now sits at 7-2 and now will also wait to hear its name called on Fox Sports Detroit for Division One which will likely be at home.

We’ll see what happens.