FOOTBALL: Lake Orion holds off Stoney Creek for first postseason win in seven years
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
LAKE ORION — Sometimes in a postseason atmosphere, a team may have to go about a different path to win a close game.
Lake Orion showed that Friday.
The Dragons led 21-7 early in the second quarter and had to hold on to escape with a 21-14 victory over visiting Rochester Stoney Creek in a Division 1 pre-district contest.
Lake Orion was held off the scoreboard for the final 32:41 of the game, as the Cougars controlled the clock for much of the final three quarters.
“(Legendary) Coach Tony Annese said it right years ago that to make a run sometimes you have to steal a win in the tournament,” offered third-year Lake Orion coach John Blackstock, who picked up his first postseason win as a head coach. “If we do make a run, maybe that was the one game we stole away. I don’t want to take anything away from Stoney Creek. They played a great football game. They took away the middle of the field from us and we had a difficult time moving the football. Those kids play hard and are well-coached. That is no 5-4 football team.”
Leading 14-7 early in the second quarter, Lake Orion junior Kade Manzo picked off Stoney Creek junior quarterback Ryan Eckhout at the Orion 24 yard line. The next play, senior Kobe Manzo broke loose for a 76-yard touchdown run with 8:41 to play in the second quarter play for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown for the Dragons.
Lake Orion only had 14 plays from scrimmage over the final three quarters of play and stopped the Cougars (5-5) in the red zone three times to hold on for dear life.
Inside the final minute, Kobe Manzo picked up a 4-yard run for the first down with 38 seconds left to seal the deal and send Lake Orion into the district championship for the first time since 2012. The victory was also Lake Orion’s first postseason win in seven seasons.
Lake Orion (9-1) will host Utica Eisenhower (8-2) in the district championship next Friday. Eisenhower rolled to a convincing 24-0 shutout of Rochester Adams in the another pre-district contest.
The Dragons outscored its opposition 365-165 in the regular season, but found its match in Stoney Creek, which held Lake Orion to a season-low in yardage.
“That’s a testament to our character,” said Blackstock. “When things aren’t going our way (on offense), we stepped it up on defense and found a way to win.”
Kobe Manzo finished with 184 yards on 14 carries and all three touchdowns for the Dragons. He only had eight touches for 20 yards after the third touchdown run.
As a team, Lake Orion only had 22 plays from scrimmage during the game and had to settle for the three long touchdown runs from the elder Manzo. The Dragons, who came in averaging 40.6 points an outing, scored at will during the first three drives but did not score on their final five possessions.
“I’ve said it before but we have grown up fast. You look week after week at Stoney Creek and they have got better and better. But for us on offense, you know what we’re gunna do — so try and stop us,” said Kobe Manzo. “We have that tough mentality and we’re trying to (rebuild) that mentality that we can always score. We did early on and the we got that first down late (to clinch it).”
Kobe Manzo helped stake the Dragons to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on touchdown runs of 40 and 34 yards.
Stoney Creek trimmed the deficit down to 14-7 when Cam Buford scampered into the end zone on a 5-yard run with 1:41 remaining in the first quarter.
Manzo added the 76-yarder on just the sixth play of the second frame.
The Cougars finally scored again with 5:25 to go in the contest. Buford plowed home from 1 yard out to end a long 21-play, 59-yard drive that took 9:14 off the clock. Stoney Creek could not threaten on its final drive, turning the ball over on downs on its own 42.
Previously, the Cougars were stymied inside the Dragons’ 20 yard line on three occasions.
Stoney Creek stalled out on the Orion 2 on a fourth-and-goal situation after going 78 yards over 14 plays with 1:30 left in the second half. The Cougars got the ball back on the Orion 3 yard line two plays later on a fumble recovery, but were halted on downs four plays later with 23.5 seconds left in the half.
Stoney Creek was stopped cold following a 16-play drive at the Dragons’ 19 midway through the third period, again failing to put points on the board. The Cougars faked a field goal on the Dragons’ 8 but the pass sailed high of the receiver.
“We did a great job stopping them for most of the game. We just didn’t make the (offensive) plays when we needed to,” said second-year Stoney Creek coach Nick Merlo, who was missing his top athlete, Zach Denha, to a concussion. “We were missing Zach, but it’s the next-man up mentality. We had other guys step in and do a nice job. We just came up short.”
Stoney Creek out-gained Lake Orion 296-268 for the game, while allowing the Dragons to amass only 49 yards of total offense after the third touchdown drive with 8:41 left in the second quarter.
Stoney Creek reached the postseason for just the fourth time in school history. The Cougars squeezed into the field as an at-large team following a third-place finish in the OAA White Division and 5-4 record.
“These seniors came a long ways over two short years and I thank them all for helping us (reach the postseason) and play another game. I just wish it could be one more game,” added Merlo. “They set a great example. We’ll just have to work even harder next season to get back and go further. It all starts on Monday after school.”
Buford was a workhorse for Stoney Creek, rushing 27 times for 87 yards and both scores. He added a pair of catches for 65 yards.
Eckhout added 42 yards on 15 carries and was 10-for-20 passing for 137 yards and an interception.
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