Blackstock to Succeed Bell at Orion.

Written Thursday January 12th at 10:45 PM

The Dragons are heading into a new era when it comes to coaching in football.

Longtime coach Chris Bell stepped down from coaching to focus on being Athletic Director at Lake Orion. John Blackstock has been named Bell’s successor.

Bell took over the Dragons in 1998, posting a 149-59 record as head coach. He took Orion to four State Semifinals, won four regional crowns, eight district crowns, and one State Championship in 2010.

Bell took the team to the postseason 16 of the last 19 seasons.

Blackstock was Bell’s defensive backs and special team’s coach for all of the 19 seasons they were together. Before coming to Orion with Bell, Blackstock played at Bad Axe and played at Central Michigan. He got into coaching as a graduate assistant at Eastern Michigan.

Thoughts.

I love this move to name Blackstock the head coach. He will have a talented team coming back next season. To keep the program within the family is huge especially where the direction of the Lake Orion football program is going.

For me to play in this football program, it was an honor and would be an honor to support the Lake Orion program.

The program is in good hands.

Stay tuned to OAA Now and Between Taorminas for complete coverage of this developing story.