Lake Orion/Clarkston Week as good as it gets.

Written Monday October 14th, at 8:10 AM

You look at what is expected on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and you look like man what is going to happen and what will we find out about each school.

When you look at both Athletic Departments, both are treated with respect and class at the highest level and they have well respected athletic directors on each side in Lake Orion's Bill Reiss and Clarkston's Dan Fife. Reiss was a former girls basketball coach at Lake Orion in the 1990's while Fife is the current boys basketball coach at Clarkston and has been doing that for years.

What will take place on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday will be interesting as Green and White meets up with Maize and Blue in both Volleyball and Football.

Both of these teams play in youth football leagues, middle schools (Lake Orion: Scripps, Waldon, and Oakview)(Clarkston: Clarkston Junior High School, and Sashabaw), and high school. It is as good as it gets when the towns of Lake Orion and Clarkston lock up.

On Tuesday at Lake Orion is the volleyball portion of the rivalry. Both the Dragons and Wolves will be playing for the Red title. Lake Orion and Clarkston have the talent up front and in the back court. Both teams are state ranked (Clarkston tenth, Lake Orion second in Class A.) Dragons coach Ross Talbott and Clarkston coach Kelly Avernall have said to the media that their respective counterparts are the teams to beat and they truly are. These teams know each other quite well, playing in tournaments together whether it was against one another or even on the same team (AAU Volleyball.) It wouldn't surprise me that this match goes five games and also the Dragons and Wolves are expected to meet in the district semifinals for the playoffs at Clarkston.

On Thursday at Lake Orion is the Freshman and Junior Varsity football games part of the rivalry. Freshman will be very interesting when these two meet up. The Dragons come in undefeated while the Wolves have one loss, which was to Rochester Adams. Both teams are deep and talented so this will be a very good match up for both teams. In Junior Varsity Football, the Wolves are undefeated at 7-0 while the Dragons are 6-1. Clarkston embarrassed Lake Orion last season in freshman at Clarkston Junior High School and feels they can do it again.

On Friday at Clarkston is the Varsity portion of the rivalry. The Red is on the line in this game. This is not Lake Orion's greatest team while this maybe Clarkston's best team they have ever had. The Dragons and Wolves come into this game at 6-1, both teams have suffered tough losses (Orion to Stoney Creek in Week Four, Clarkston to Adams in Week One.) Both teams have good coaches in the Dragons Chris Bell and the Wolves Kurt Richardson. Clarkston has two very good running backs, two very good wide receivers, a very good quarterback, a very good and strong offensive line, and a very good tight end. Lets not add that the Wolves have a strong defense as well, their line is very good and their secondary is one of the best in the state. The Dragons do have some athletes as well on their side as well and nobody is giving Lake Orion a chance in this game either. These two teams could meet again in the playoffs, there is a fifty-fifty chance that happens but remember last year the MHSAA split the Dragons and Wolves up (Lake Orion went East, Clarkston went West) and it could happen again this year as well.

Personal Thoughts about the Rivalry:

As a person who knows this rivalry  its easy to get fired up about this rivalry  Although not to the baddest of blood when it comes to Oxford. The Clarkston rivalry is one of the most honorable rivalries that I know. Both teams respect one another when it comes to athleticism. Both have played on the same team together, whether in the summer or in AAU.

I played in this rivalry in football and in track and been on the football team that beat Clarkston twice in one season in 2005 (28-21 OT in the regular season and 27-21 in the district finals.) I've seen Clarkston beat Lake Orion twice in one season as well in 2009. Both these teams had great playoff runs last season, the Dragons whom lost 21-14 to Clarkston last season in the regular season had to beat Utica Eisenhower, Sterling Heights Stevenson, and Macomb Dakota before falling to Detroit Cass Tech. The Wolves went unbeaten in the regular season beat Davison and Grand Blanc before falling to Rockford in the regional finals.

All the great stars that have came through here played in this rivalry from Sam Palace, Eric Ogg, Mike Kittle, Steve McCassic, Jimmy Popp to Roger Allison, Will Johnston, Trent Varva, Marcus Stevenson, Sean Charette, among others.

Both teams have had their up and down seasons but have made the playoffs most of the time. Clarkston had a run to the state semifinals in 2009 where they beat Lake Orion twice along with Macomb Dakota and Romeo before falling to Sterling Heights Stevenson on a controversial call. Lake Orion won the state title in Division One a year later. This clearly in my opinion is one of the greatest rivalries in the state that nobody is talking about.

I also have seen it on the volleyball front to the days of former Dragons coaches Mike Hatch and Bob Howey going up against well coached Wolves teams coached by Kelly Avernall. Clarkston, I know has been an Red power and have won numerous league titles (six in a row) and have had great players like Maddie Lightfoot and Rachel Dickerson come through their proud program. The Dragons have had great ones as well from Maddie Hutchinson, Shannon Murdock, Dana Schrauben, and Taylor Hargraves have came though their proud program. I was there for the 2011 season, when they went five games to decide the Red Champion, Clarkston won that night at Lake Orion. A few weeks later, I didn't expect to see Lake Orion and Clarkston meet again in Battle Creek in the state semifinals. Both teams had tough matches to get there, the Dragons went east and had to beat Birmingham Marian and Macomb Dakota while Clarkston went west and beat Plymouth Canton just to get there. Lake Orion would beat Clarkston in four games and play Rockford for the state crown, however lost in three games to the Rams that season.

We'll see what happens this week. All I can say is let the games begin.