Recaps
Week 2: In first-ever meeting between two programs, North Farmington cruises past Lake Orion, 44-22
Meeting for the first time in the history of the two schools, the North Farmington Raiders jumped out to a two-score lead less than a minute into the second quarter and never looked back, defeating Lake Orion, 44-22, on September 3 at Ron Holland Field.
Sophomore Raider quarterback Ryan Shelby, who spent his freshman year at West Bloomfield and stars for North Farmington’s baseball team, as well, threw three touchdown passes – two to senior Aaron Rice, who is committed to the American Athletic Conference’s Navy Midshipmen – and tailback Jasper Beeler, another senior, ran for two scores.
Lake Orion senior quarterback Kyler Carson completed 5-of-9 passes for 94 yards and finished as the team’s leading rusher with 42 yards. Fellow senior CJ Witt ran for 30 yards, scored the Dragons’ first touchdown, and posted 40 receiving yards on three catches.
After Beeler’s final touchdown of the night, the Raiders took a 44-6 lead with 9:05 to play in the third quarter, leading to both teams removing most of their starters and giving their reserves an extended look.
Dragons junior Connor McCartan made the most of his opportunity, piloting two scoring drives, the first ending in a 13-yard pass to sophomore Joey DeBrincat and the second on a one-yard keeper.
Two plays before his one-yard plunge, McCartan delivered one of Lake Orion’s best offensive plays of the contest, finding senior Izaiah Marve for 37 yards down the left sideline on 3rd-and-22 from the North Farmington 40-yard line.
With this defeat, the Dragons now stand at 1-1, while the Raiders moved to 2-0.
“They’re a really good team, they’ve got really good athletes and we knew we would have to do a great job of keeping them in front of us and limiting and stopping big plays, and we didn’t,” Lake Orion head coach John Blackstock said.
“That first 3rd-and-long situation of the game really set the tone. We had them pinned pretty deep, I think 3rd-and-15 or 16, and one of their playmakers came up with a big play and we just never recovered from that.”
The Dragons totaled 311 yards of offense in this game, with 167 of those coming on the ground. Racking up this total on 34 attempts, Lake Orion averaged 4.9 yards-per-carry, but trailing on the scoreboard limited the unit’s ability to methodically possess the football like they prefer.
“We like to be in control of the game and move at our own pace,” Blackstock said. “When you go down that early, it makes it hard. After that long third down, we were chasing the whole night.”
Running for 153 yards in the season-opening victory over the Utica Eisenhower Eagles on August 26, sophomore Billy Roberson tallied 25 yards on seven carries in this one. One positive development from the night was freshman Trey Pochmara III ripping off a 29-yard run on his first varsity carry.
Lake Orion will look to rebound on Friday, September 10, against the Southfield A&T Warriors in another road game.
Southfield A&T will enter play at 1-1, having lost to the Cass Tech Technicians, 49-22, on August 27 and defeating the Birmingham Groves Falcons, 33-7, on September 3.
The Dragons and Warriors did not meet in 2020. In the last clash between the two programs, which came on September 6, 2019, Lake Orion won, 37-7.