The Lake Orion football program is not necessarily known for kicking field goals.
That changed on Friday night, as Jeff Heath’s 23-yarder gave the Dragons a come-from-behind 24-21 victory over host Romeo and sent them to a rematch next week at Clarkston in a district final.
‘Jeff’s been kicking real well, we put him in last week and he’s been really consistent,? Lake Orion Coach Chris Bell said.
Romeo led throughout in the rainy and muddy conditions, but Lake Orion tied the game on a 12-play, five-and-a-half minute drive that ended with a James Miller one-yard touchdown run with under five minutes left.
After Romeo went three-and-out, on a drive that went 24 yards in the wrong direction, Lake Orion had a chance for the game-winning drive. That drive, which started with 2:21 remaining, had plenty of key moments.
On fourth down and three from the Romeo 32, quarterback Chris Lum took a naked bootleg five yards for a first down.
‘That’s a senior quarterback making a play,? Bell said. ‘He knew we needed three yards.?
Three plays later, on third and 14 from the 31, Branden Oakes ran off 21 yards on a draw play, setting up a first and goal. Bell gave the credit for that play call to his defensive coordinator.
‘Dave Tooley up in the (press) box said ‘how about a draw here,?? Bell said. ‘We practice those situations and they couldn’t have executed it any better.?
Without any timeouts and the clock running under 30 seconds, the Dragons ran Oakes up the middle for five more yards and spiked the ball to set up Heath.
Romeo called a pair of timeouts, but it wasn’t enough to throw off the Lake Orion junior, who took over extra point-kicking duties just last week. Heath’s kick sailed through with 1.5 seconds left on the clock, sending the visiting sideline into a frenzy.
‘He had kicked for the J.V.,? Bell said of Heath. ‘He had an injury earlier in the season, so we didn’t kick him a lot.?
Romeo’s last-ditch effort on the ensuing kickoff return went nowhere, ending their season at 8-2. The 7-3 Dragons got their two other touchdowns from Oakes, who led the team with a career best 158 yards on the ground. Lake Orion had over 220 rushing yards on the day, most of which came in the second half.
Oakes? first score, a five-yard run, tied the game in the final minutes of the opening half, and his second TD, a 15-yard run, tied things at 14 on the opening drive of the second half.
In all, the Dragons had three drives that came back to tie the game, which Bell called ‘character drives.?
Romeo scored on a five-play drive to open the game, which ended with a Brent Brown 44-yard touchdown scamper, and was close to scoring late in the first quarter when Robby Lentz came up with a huge interception. Brown scored again on a short run right before the break.
The muddy conditions played a role at first, according to Bell, as his team had yet to play on a natural grass field this season.
‘We looked a little slow defensively,? he said. ‘We weren’t attacking the way we needed to attack and that was an adjustment we made at halftime.?
The Dragons got the one big stop they needed on defense in the closing minutes, with the aid of a holding penalty by the Bulldogs that set them back inside their 10-yard line.
The ensuing punt gave Lake Orion the ball at the Romeo 39-yard line to set up the big drive.
‘We pride ourselves on four quarters of Lake Orion football, and that’s a good team we beat over there,? Bell said.