When David Wurst got behind two Clarkston defenders for a 46-yard touchdown reception, it was just a sign of things to come for the host Wolves.
They looked up at Lake Orion all night on the scoreboard, and, at the end of the 32-8 rout, Clarkston was also left looking up at the Dragons in the standings.
As the minutes ticked away in the fourth quarter, the celebration began on the Dragon sideline – including a nice cold shower for victorious coach Chris Bell.
For the third time in school history, and the first since 1989, the team completed a 9-0 regular season.
They finished the regular campaign ranked first in the state in Division I, get to play their first three playoff games at home, and won their first outright OAA championship.
‘It starts with the league championship,? Bell said. ‘That was our goal from week one.?
The Dragons shared the title twice, most recently in 2002, but having it all to themselves meant beating Clarkston.
‘They’re a good team,? running back Aaron Allen said of Clarkston. ‘But we knew if we came in and played as hard as we could, we’d come out on top.?
Allen, a senior, played a big part, running for 136 yards on 19 carries, including runs of 40 and 33 that set up a pair of Cody Vettraino touchdowns.
‘It’s all on the O-line,? Allen said of his blockers.
‘We’ve been throwing it all over and we felt we could run the ball,? Bell said of his gameplan.
Perhaps even more impressive than the job the Dragon offense did was the game their defensive unit put together.
‘The defense did a great job,? Bell said. ‘They did what they’ve done all year.?
‘We knew we’d have to play our best game,? senior defensive back Joe Barnes added. ‘The D-line really stepped up.?
The defensive line was instrumental in shutting down the Clarkston run game which had overpowered many teams this season.
‘We just came in here and gritted our teeth,? senior defensive lineman Josh Allison said.
Allison led the defense with 12 tackles on the night, including one sack.
As they had in recent weeks, the defense also created a turnover that got the offense going, when Zak Clouse recovered a fumble at the Lake Orion 43-yard line. The fumble recovery set up the opening touchdown pass from quarterback Chris Lum to Wurst.
The turnover got the Dragons off and running, as they soon added a Vettraino TD scamper and a 41-yard field goal by Dylan Van Fossen to take a 16-0 lead.
‘We started bringing that up midway through the season,? Defensive Cooridnator Dave Tooley said of the turnovers, noting that the coaches started ‘Turnover Tuesdays,? where they would monitor how many times their defense generated a take-away.
Then, later in the half, the defense came up with a score of its own, as Barnes intercepted Clarkston quarterback Eric Ogg and ran 53-yards for a score.
‘We were in a heavy zone and knew they were going to run a shallow cross,? Barnes said of the play.
He jumped the route in front of the Clarkston sideline and ran easily to paydirt.
Lum hit Cole Moore for the two-point conversion and some 5,000 Wolves fans that Barnes ran by were silenced as the Dragons led 24-0 at halftime.
Clarkston finally got on the board in the third quarter, when Ogg hit Eric Badgley on a 25-yard touchdown pass and again on the two-point conversion.
After the teams traded punts, Lake Orion put the game away on the final play of the third quarter, when Vettraino scored from 9-yards out. Lum to Moore was good again for two points.
The Wolves didn’t put together any more threats against a staunch Dragon defense.
‘They prepared this week really well,? Tooley said of his defensive unit.
‘We tried not to prepare any differently,? he added with a smile, ‘but it was different.?
Tooley said that in spite of the big game atmosphere, the defensive team was as mentally prepared as they were all season.
‘It was pretty calm,? Allison said of the preparation. ?(The coaches) told us we just had to play as a team and play Dragon football.?