LAKE ORION PREVIEW: Can Dragons reload for another lengthy postseason run?

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

LAKE ORION — Chris Bell does not like all of the extra attention he received last fall.

The veteran football coach is a father and an assistant principal at Lake Orion High School to go along with his head coaching duties. That draws in plenty of demands already.

So when he was the subject of a billboard along M-24 earlier this year, posted by the Detroit Lions as the Michigan High School Coach of the Year, he didn’t really like the spotlight in that matter.

“My own kids loved it,” laughed Bell, who is entering his 14^th season at the helm of the Dragons program. “The students and our players felt good about it, which made me happy because they were the reason I was up there.

“But I didn’t ask for it,” he continued.

Indeed, Lake Orion captured its first state championship in football last November — only the school’s fourth overall state title in any sport — which was capped with a 21-13 victory over Plymouth in the Division 1 state finals at Ford Field. The program, the school and the community had finally reached the summit.

SMASH MOUTH FOOTBALL: Lake Orion senior Andrew Shafkalis (No.47 on left) is one of the area's top defensive linemen and one of four returning starters for the Dragons, who are the defending Division 1 state champions. File Photo | Larry McKee, www.lmckeephotography.com

It was several years in the making.

Bell took over in 1998 and the Dragons reached the Division 1 state semifinals that season. Lake Orion has been one of the most consistent programs in Oakland County and Metro Detroit since that 10-2 season 13 years ago.

Bell, who previously coached at Center Line St. Clement and Linden, is 112-34 at Lake Orion. He has guided the Dragons to playoff appearances in 12 of the past 13 seasons and the one year the Dragons did not make the postseason (2000), Lake Orion had a late surge by winning four of its final five games to finish just points shy of an at-large postseason berth.

In his tenure at Lake Orion, Bell and his staff have led the Dragons to the Final Four three times (2010, 2008, 1998), have one state runner-up finish (2008), the semifinals in ‘98 and last year’s state title run. Overall, Lake Orion is 19-11 in the postseason under Bell. The Dragons are 21-14 all-time in the playoffs, including qualifying in 1988, 1989 and 1994 but with only two postseason wins prior to the current coaching staff.

The Dragons have also reached the regional finals three other times (2001, 2005, 2007). Perhaps one of the school’s most talented teams on paper came in 2003, when the Dragons were No.1 in the preseason but suffered countless injuries and ended the season on a sour note, a 28-0 loss to Flint Carman-Ainsworth in a pre-district game.

Of the school’s 15 state postseason appearances, 12 have come under Bell, who has a .762 win percentage at Lake Orion. Simply put, the Dragons win under Bell and his collection of highly regarded assistant coaches.

Chris Bell

So perhaps the extra attention is warranted for Bell and his staff?

“We always have high expectations,” said Bell. “But it’s all about the kids, the players that come through the program. The support we get from parents and the community is great. It takes a lot of people to build a successful high school football program.”

The attention is also coming from the youth, as some 230 athletes are in the football program at the high school alone. That means that around 10 percent of the entire student body at Lake Orion High School has come out for football this season, a staggering amount for a school with around 2,500 students, which is the second-largest enrollment in Oakland County behind Clarkston (2,750).

So now that Lake Orion has three Final Four showings, a state runner-up and a coveted state championship trophy, what are the expectations like for 2011?

“I think now that we’ve been to Ford Field twice in the past three years, the expectations are always going to try to get back there,” said Bell. “I think anything less will be a disappointment.

“I think we’ll still be a very good football team this year,” continued Bell, whose varsity has averaged 8.62 wins a season since coming to Lake Orion. “We have a lot of shoes to fill but we have some talented kids coming up through the program. We had a lot of kids that were juniors last season who got a lot of extra practice time and some game experience by having 14 games. Our JV team was undefeated and we had two freshmen teams last season. There was some very good talent last season on the lower levels and some of those players will be up with us this season.”

LEADER OF MEN: Lake Orion quarterback Sean Charette has been a starter since his freshman season and will graduate as one of the school's all-time top QBs. File Photo | Larry McKee, www.lmckeephotography.com

Lake Orion is expected to battle Clarkston, another one of the state’s better programs this season, for supremacy in the OAA Red Division. It is in the OAA Division I/Red Division where Lake Orion has fared quite well over the years.

When the OAA was launched for the 1994-95 school year, Lake Orion was in the OAA Division II. The Dragons won the title that year and was third in that division in 1995.

The following year, Lake Orion was bumped up to the OAA Division I and has finished in the top half every year except 1996, when they were fifth of seven teams. Overall, Lake Orion has won the OAA league title outright in 2010, 2008 and 2006 and shared the crown in 2002 and 1998. The Dragons have finished second six times in the OAA’s top division as well.

“One of our goals is to always contend for the league title and I think we can do that again,” said Bell, whose team has finished first or second in nine of the past 10 years and third once in that span. “We have had a lot of success in our league. You can’t have success in the postseason if you don’t compete in your league.”

In order for Lake Orion, 13-1 last season, to compete this season, it will have to replace 18 starters that either graduated or transferred, plus replace the entire kicking game. While most schools in the area would shutter at the idea of having to replace that many quality players, the Dragons do not. This is a program.

The openings have created plenty of opportunity for those players who waited in the wings last season. But the leadership falls on the players who were regulars a year ago.

The biggest piece is to the puzzle is senior quarterback Sean Charette (5-11, 175), who is in his fourth season as a starter. Charette broke his ankle in the regional finals last season but is fully mended and back to lead the Dragons.

The sole returning offensive lineman in front of Charette is senior Kevin Cronin (6-0, 245), who was part of a crew that helped the Dragons amass 505 points in 14 games last season, a 36.1 average. In eight of those games, the Dragons scored over 40 points and twice scored over 50 points.

Juniors Brent Cunningham (6-3, 295) and Jake Helmsetter (6-2, 280) and senior Davis Rossman (6-0,195) are three players who will help plug some holes on the offensive line.

Junior Chaz Miller (6-6, 210) is slated for a big year at receiver, while junior Jacob Miller (6-0, 190) is a quality back who will see far more time this season. Sophomores Zach Arnold (6-0, 170), Austin Arnold (5-11, 170) and Cory Ester (5-9, 160) and junior Jeremy King (5-10, 170) are four fast and skilled players who will serve as slot receivers or backs in their first season as regulars on varsity.

Defensively, the Dragons do return two standouts that were key in the Dragons’ title run last season. Senior John Gall (6-0, 200) earned all-conference honors last season as a linebacker and senior Andrew Shafkalis (6-2, 215) is a returning starter at defensive end.

Cunningham will likely slide in at tackle, Rossman will join the linebackers unit, junior Derek Delaura will serve as a defensive end and juniors Nick Vogelmeier (5-11, 170) and Brandon Clements (5-10, 170) , Zach Arnold and Austin Arnold are going to search for prey in the secondary. There are several other players that hope to crack the lineup this season.

“As strange as it may sound, we might actually be better this year at certain positions,” admitted Bell. “We have some very big and some very athletic kids who were just (biding) their time last season who will step in this year. We have looked good in the summer.”

With a new group of talented newcomers mixed in with four rock-solid returning starters, there’s no reason to expect much of a drop-off for a program that has posted 15 straight winning seasons and 16 winning campaigns in the past 18 years.

Winning breads winning and winning also breads expectations of competing for championships.

“The state championship is a part of our tradition,” said Bell. “It’s something that we are very proud of and we learned a lot of lessons along the way.

“The journey is what it’s all about — and that’s the fun part,” continued Bell. “Championships and the postseason honors is a result of what you do. This journey is just like last year but with different kids. We’re going to go on a journey and our goal is to compete for championships. We want to win our league, be a playoff team and we want to win championships in the playoffs. Those are all results. It’s the process that is what it’s all about. Let’s see how good we can be and if it’s good enough, then it’s good enough. It it’s not, let’s just be as good as we can be.”

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Tags: Chris Bell, featured, high school football, Lake Orion, lake orion football, LAke Orion Football Preview 2011, OAA football, prep football

Category: Editor's Column, Lake Orion, Prep Wraps, Publishers Viewpoint