FOOTBALL: Lake Orion regains Double-O trophy with shutout of Oxford
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.Stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
LAKE ORION — With all of the running room Friday, Keith Fields must have felt like it was track practice and not a football game.
The Lake Orion junior running back broke free for a career game. The Dragons’ speed demon roasted Oxford for 232 yards on 14 carries in helping his team not only record a 36-0 OAA Red Division shutout of visiting Oxford, but helped Orion regain the Double-O trophy after losing by a touchdown last season.
“It was just nice to get the Double-O trophy back,” smiled Fields, who watched Oxford down Lake Orion 21-14 last season.
Running behind a large and mobile offensive line made up of Josh Benson, Justin Cathers, Nicholas Novak, Jeff McCarty and Brendan Thompson, Fields had, well, a field day on Oxford’s linebackers and defensive backs all night, rolling up several long runs.
In fact, following an Oxford fumble, Fields raced 55 yards untouched on the Dragons’ first play from scrimmage to put Lake Orion in control at 7-0 with 9:56 to go in the first quarter to set the tone.
“It’s how we practice,” continued Fields. “We always go hard and it shows. The line was great tonight. Everything I did was because of them. Maybe you should be talking to them. We are like a family out there and we all did our part.”
Sophomore quarterback Caden Prieskorn, who finished 2-for-3 passing for 61 yards, connected with Jaylen Wiggins on a 35-yard dart over the middle for a 14-0 advantage with 9:07 left in the second quarter to put the Dragons in the driver’s seat.
In the second half, Lake Orion (2-2, 2-1) continued to convert on big plays. Two plays after Fields recorded a 46-yard gain, the shifty back converted an 11-yard scoring dash for a 20-0 lead just 1:43 into the third frame.
Fields later added a 4-yard TD run and Chris Wilson scored on a 23-yard run on his first carry of the night, both in the third quarter, for the 33-0 lead. Luke Bevilacqua, who misfired on an extra point in the third quarter, made up for it with a 37-yard field with 9:36 to go in the contest.
“We knew what we had in Keith Fields coming up. Last year we had Matt Krause, so Keith Fields was waiting for his time,” said Lake Orion coach Chris Bell. “You can see that he is very shifty and he has great (acceleration) to the holes. I thought our offensive line did a great job. They are starting to gel. I think this is one of the biggest offensive lines we’ve had here in a long time. They did a great job with their blocking schemes and we were able to be able to move the ball quickly.”
Oxford failed to convert in the red zone twice in the game, as the youthful Wildcats were shutout for the second straight week and third time this season.
Oxford (1-3, 1-2) put together a long drive that was stalled out at the Orion 10 midway through the first quarter. The Wildcats also failed to convert on a fourth-and-two from the Dragons’ 8-yard-line with 28.2 ticks left in the opening half.
“We haven’t play Oxford (style) football for a while now,” said veteran Oxford coach Bud Rowley. “We’re having a hard time getting going. We’re not going to give up. We’re going to keep going, I though Lake Orion played a nice football game. I don’t think we’re there yet. Come Monday we’ll come in and work our butts off. It’s no secret. We can’t score. And when you can’t score, you lose. We have a lot of work to do.”
Wyatt Harden finished 110 yards on 21 carries for Oxford, which had 63 plays from scrimmage compared to 31 for Lake Orion but still left a donut up on the scoreboard.
Lake Orion out-gained Oxford 378-226 on offense. The Dragons moved to 4-2 against Oxford after the rivalry game was renewed after a 27-year gap.
Oxford will face two-time defending state champion Clarkston next week, while Lake Orion will host OAA Red Division league-leader West Bloomfield during its Week 5 encounter.
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