By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
wprice@mihomepaper.com
ORION TWP. — The Wolves ran towards the Jungle, the student fan section, holding up the Clarkston/Lake Orion Football trophy after avenging their previous loss to the Dragons with a 34-16 win in the district semifinal last Friday.
“We know what the rivalry is about, and anytime you lose a rivalry game it’s got a little extra sting to it,” said Clarkston Varsity Football Head Coach Justin Pintar. “I think that motivation was there for us to come back in this playoff game and do what we did last year – come and win one in the playoffs. Credit to these guys, we talked about getting better from week seven, and I thought we did that today.”
The Wolves opened the game with possession of the ball and finished with a 55-yard touchdown run from junior running back Griffin Boman with 8:29 remaining in the first quarter. A PAT from junior kicker Aidan O’Neill put the score, 7-0.

Boman finished the first quarter with another touchdown run, this one in six yards with 21 seconds left on the clock. O’Neill was successful with his PAT attempt putting the lead at 14-0.
Less than a minute into the second quarter, the Dragons were on the board with seven points. Senior wide receiver Kyle England caught a pass from senior quarterback T. R. Hill and made a 77-yard play for a touchdown. Senior kicker Will Hoffman scored on a PAT as the Dragons went 80 yards in three plays.
With 19.7 seconds left in the quarter, Hoffman scored on a 28-yard field goal, closing the gap, 14-10.
The Wolves weren’t done yet with just a few seconds on the clock. As time expired Boman made a 58-yard touchdown run while avoiding Lake Orion’s defensive stops along the way to put Clarkston up 21-10 with a PAT from O’Neill.
Pintar shared it was getting a spark before half time.
“You’re going to halftime feeling a little bit different,” he said. “You go in 21-10 that totally changes the complexion and the feeling in the game. It was one of those where ‘okay, let’s just run a play and see what happens.’ And (Griffin and Lukas) Boman are pretty special. We know if we can break it open for them, we’ll get them the first five or ten, they might make something happen. He did and that was an impressive run.”
Clarkston’s lead continued to grow five minutes into the second half as junior running back Lukas Boman caught a 54-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Alex Waszczenko. O’Neill’s PAT attempt was blocked as the lead went up to 27-10.
Lake Orion scored on their next possession with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Hill to senior wide receiver Jahmari Cooper three minutes later. The Dragons were unsuccessful on their 2-point conversion attempt.
The night closed with a 1-yard touchdown by Waszczenko and a PAT from O’Neill with 1:33 left in the game.
Pintar shared it was a good game for offense, defense and special teams.
“The first game (against Lake Orion) we had some good plays, but we had a hard time sustaining drives,” he said. “We had too many negative plays the first game. Today, I thought we did a much better job of not having the negative play. We had a couple plays where we lost maybe a yard or two, but it wasn’t as many times as it was last game we played them. A big part of our game plan was we got to make sure we eliminate those negative plays. We were able to hit some big runs and do a lot more damage on the run game, but we also know they’re very aggressive.”
Clarkston (7-3) heads to Rochester Adams (8-2) this Friday for the MHSAA Division 1 Football District 4 playoff.
The Wolves lost to the Highlanders earlier in the season on Sept. 20, 28-10.
“We kind of got partnered up with all the OAA Red teams,” Pintar said. “Lake Orion got us the first time obviously. Then, Rochester Adam’s got us at their place and that’s another very well coached football team. They play a lot like us. They’re very competitive. Those guys get after it on defense. Then, offensively they give you some different looks that you don’t see against other teams.
“It’s a tough week of preparation getting ready for those guys,” he added. “But, another chance to go back and hopefully avenge an earlier loss and if you can do two of those in the first two weeks of the playoffs, that’s going to feel pretty good.”
Kick off is at 7 p.m.

  Clarkston Athletics, Football