Dragons fall to Chippewa Valley Again.

Written Friday August 25th at 1:45 AM

The Orion Dragons kicked off the 2017 football season in Clinton Township on Thursday night against the Big Reds of Chippewa Valley.

Chippewa Valley had to survive an Orion rally in the fourth quarter to earn a 20-17 victory on Thursday night. It was the fourth straight loss to the Big Reds.

The scoring started when Chippewa Valley blocked a punt deep into Dragons territory. The Big Reds quarterback Tom Schuster found Jon Naise Owens for an seven yard touchdown and a 7-0 Chippewa Valley lead.

Orion would then respond thanks to a 24 yard field goal from Parker Blust but they could not convert on a fourth down similar to last season’s game at Wayne State at the one yard line last season keeping the halftime score 7-3.

There was some controversy in the middle of the third quarter with Orion trailing 7-3. The Dragons were forced to punt, the ball hit a Big Reds player on the heel of the foot, Orion would recover the football. The referee even gave the Dragons the football however he reversed his own call and gave the ball to the Chippewa Valley.

After taking advantage of the call Schuster drove the ball down the field when he threw a 58 yard pass to Owens along with a personal foul to the Orion five yard line. That play would led to a three yard rushing touchdown by Andre Chenault but the point after was blocked giving the Big Reds a 13-3 lead.

Orion had another punt blocked, this time by Austin Fredrick. The blocked punt led to another Chippewa Valley touchdown as Schuster found Jacob Rybicki for a 20 yard touchdown pass for a 20-3 Big Reds lead late in the third quarter.

Schuster and Rybicki were instrumental against Orion in last season's game at Wayne State in which Chippewa Valley won 35-7.

The Dragons would then respond late in the fourth quarter after the Big Reds missed a 39 yard field goal try. Running back Dylan Frank ran for a 68 yard touchdown making the score 20-10 Chippewa Valley.

Orion got another stop on defense which led to their second touchdown of the night as quarterback John Marshall found Frank for a 15 yard touchdown cutting the score to 20-17 Chippewa Valley.

The Big Reds would try to run the clock down but the Dragons defense stiffened and got the football back to their offense one more time but Marshall was intercepted by Brian Nadius ending the game.

Lauer was seven for eight for 72 yards, Marshall was four for seven for 70 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Frank had 25 carries for 86 yards. Schuster was seven for 15 for 120 yards and two touchdowns for Chippewa Valley.

Orion is 0-1 for a fourth straight season. The Dragons will host Rochester Adams next Thursday at Dragon Stadium for their home opener.

Thoughts.

Looking back, I'm trying to understand why the official made the call that he made during that third quarter. Following a Dragons punt, the football clearly hit the left heel of a Big Reds player and Orion recovered the football. The referee pointed out that it was LO football but following a conference with the rest of his crew, he changed his mind and gave the football to Chippewa Valley. Normally the first instinct is the call on the field and by rule, you go with the call is on the field. The call shouldn't had been changed but it was. The Big Reds took advantage and scored two touchdowns in the process. I wonder if High School Football had instant replay would this happen, would the outcome be different???

The Dragons left a bunch of plays on the field in the first half especially one in the second quarter that was very similar to the game last season at Wayne State when they had the ball on the two yard line and couldn't get a first down but it’s not an excuse to leave points on the field.

I thought the Orion defense held their own against Chippewa Valley. They made plays and got some key turnovers, stops, and sacks at the same time. The defense was given bad field position thanks to the punt blocks which gave the Big Reds the short field to score their points. The offense wasn't great but showed flashes especially late in the fourth quarter. The special teams needs some work after having two punts blocked.

This team is a work in progress.

This loss puts the Dragons in a bad spot heading into league play. They have Adams next whom destroyed Rochester 38-6.

We’ll see what happens.