FOOTBALL: Lake Orion unleashes speed in lopsided victory over Utica Eisenhower
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter@LocalSportsFans
LAKE ORION — Perhaps Lake Orion will display an element on the football field this season that it hasn’t seen since the glory days of the 2000s.
Dynamite speed.
The Dragons unleashed some lethal team speed, led by the debuts of sophomore Billy Roberson and senior Stephen Brown, and the boys in the tenches did the dirty work in Lake Orion’s dominant 33-7 non-league victory Thursday over visiting Utica Eisenhower.
The win avenged a 27-20 loss to Eisenhower in a 2019 Division 1 district finals and was the Dragons’ first regular season win over the Eagles since 1977.
Roberson finished with 153 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown and Brown added 38 yards including a touchdown run for the Dragons.
Brown is the Oakland County 100 meters champ last May after transferring over from Grand Blanc. Roberson is a first-year varsity performer which who more than stole the show for Lake Orion, which used eight ball carriers that amassed a combined 347 rushing yards on 48 carries.
“We have some great speed on this team,” smiled Lake Orion coach John Blackstock. “It gives us another way where we can really move the football. The guys up front did a great job and allowed us to move the football. What a job by Billy Roberson, to come in here and do that in his first varsity game. And Stephen Brown is just fast — he’s an All-State sprinter.”
Brown, who was also seventh in the 100 meters and ninth in the 200 meters at the Division 1 state finals last June, gave the Dragons a 6-0 lead when he dashed home on a 6-yard run.
Eisenhower grabbed a 7-6 advantage later in the first quarter when sophomore quarterback Matt Ames was a perfect 6-foot-6 passing on the drive and that included a 5-yard dart to Hayden Bills. Ames was injured on the touchdown and did not return.
Eisenhower struggled to move the ball the rest of the way, and collected just four rushing yards and 141 total yards of offense on the night.
With the Dragons (1-0) dominating the line of scrimmage — led by Daniel Babcock, Jonah Fix and Trevor Witt, on the offensive line — Lake Orion took the lead for good when Nasir Lardell scored on a 4-yard run up the middle with 7:01 to go in the second quarter. Kyler Carson added a 1-yard plunge for another score before half, where Lake Orion built a 20-7 lead.
“That (offensive) line is kind of what we were banking on all offseason,” offered Blackstock. “That’s kind of where we’re going to have to live for a while, with that run game. It was fun to see. Those guys did a great job up front.”
In the second half, Jacob Lee booted field goals of 37 and 22 yards and Roberson added a sizzling 73-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for Lake Orion.
Eisenhower (0-1) lost most of its starting lineup and struggled over the final three quarters against Lake Orion.
“Defensively up front our front seven are all first-year guys on varsity,” said Eisenhower coach Christopher Smith. “For those guys, it’s just going to take time. It’s going to take playing lines like (Lake Orion). The MAC Red is going to be this and tougher, and so I thought our guys did good in the second half. They really fought.”
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