Orion loses a tough one to Troy Athens. Is the season in doubt?

Written by Anthony Taormina, Sammy's Brother at 10:12pm, September 4th 2015

0-2,

Would never thought I would read, say, or write that the Lake Orion Dragons are 0-2 but they are,

They lost to Troy Athens 21-14 after a pass Athens Quarterback Joey Stark to Jake Vincent for a 60 yard touchdown pass on a third down and 28 with 26 seconds to go in the game. A flag came out on the play but it was concluded that Orion roughed up the QB and Athens declined the penalty and took the touchdown.

Simple foreplay, Troy Athens was the better team today also more prepared. They did not expect to win this game. They saw this game as an indicator to see where they were. Can't blame them. Lake Orion had beaten them 14 straight times. Athens last win (until today) was in 2000 when they beat the Dragons 45-17. Some of those games were lopsided and some of those times, Athens had very good teams.

Athens made a statement, got to give them credit,

Got to give the Red Hawks credit especially since it felt like they wanted it more. Throughout the game they were very much into it, their coaches, their trainer, their players, even Bob Dowd, the Athletic Director was into the game. It also felt at times LO was very complacent especially the lineman both defensive and especially offensive lines. Caden Prieskorn, LO's Quarterback was sacked about seven times. Keith Fields LO's Running Back, despite scoring a touchdown was shut down for most of the game. Got to credit Athens defense but also got to fault LO's offensive line who did not do a good job protecting them. The defense did alright in the first half, holding Athens scoreless but the third quarter was when the Red Hawks got going. A lot of it was Orion's lack of offense which put the defense in very tough positions. Also penalties did not help, Orion had at least five procedure penalties, especially off sides. Both lines especially offensive though defensive had some as well. That can't happen. If Orion is going to win games, they have to be more disciplined.

The question now is, can Lake Orion get six wins and make it to the playoffs? They sit at 0-2. It is not going to be easy but it is very possible that they can get the wins but they are going to have to beat the teams they are supposed to beat and beat a team they are not supposed to beat. The Dragons have tough tests at West Bloomfield and Clarkston looming also home contests with Oxford and Stoney Creek. Not to mention the crossover game. It could be Adams, Harrison, Oak Park, maybe Farmington. Those are not easy teams either. I'm not sure 5-4 will cut it with the Athens loss but who knows Athens could prove people wrong. They did so today.

Can this team do it?

Sure, they have to believe in each other. Believe in what the coaches say. Every team goes through adversity at some point in the season. This team has it right now.

How will they respond??

We will find out starting next week at Troy

Ta Ta for now and Go Dragons