LAKE ORION >> The Lake Orion Dragons fended off a fourth-quarter rally by Oxford to defeat the Wildcats 11-8 in an OAA crossover matchup Tuesday night.

Trailing 9-5 entering the fourth quarter, the Wildcats scored three straight goals — one each by Brayden Hering, Payton Scott, and Caden Rhoades — to get within a goal with 2:42 left to play. But the Dragons cut Oxford’s comeback off from the ensuing faceoff by winning it, racing down the field, and Parker Gannon set up Jack Parillo as he was coming down the middle, allowing Parillo to rip a shot home that doubled Lake Orion’s lead just nine seconds after Rhoades had cut it to one.

That killed Oxford’s momentum, and the Wildcats never got another shot on net.

Earlier on, Oxford led for much of the second period. The Wildcats scored three goals in a span of less than three minutes to take a 5-3 lead that would last until the final two minutes before the half.

At that point, Lake Orion switched goalies, putting in Landon Westby, and the team settled down. Westby played well the rest of the way, but for a while, he didn’t have much to do as his team started to get control of the ball and once again began to dominate possession as it had in the early part of the first period.

“We put Westby in goal, made a switch, and he was very good, and the defense gradually got a little bit better,” Dragons head coach Ron Hebert said.

From there, Lake Orion got a late power play and cashed it in for three goals in a span of 86 seconds, including two by Jackson Vasquez that allowed the Dragons to take a one-goal lead into halftime.

The Dragons then came out and dominated the third period defensively, winning ground balls and forcing turnovers, and that resulted in them extending their lead to four goals by the end of the quarter before fighting off Oxford’s rally deep into the contest. The Dragons had been in a similar position against Dearborn Divine Child last Friday, and in that game had been unable to hang onto the lead, eventually losing in overtime. But this time, they found a way to secure the win with some big plays down the stretch.

“This is really a very inexperienced team,” Hebert said. “They hung in there. We got most of the guys in. We have a lot of athletes and stuff. We just don’t have good lacrosse players that are lacrosse-wise yet,” he added.

Overall, Vasquez and Coby Narloch paced the offense for Lake Orion. Vasquez racked up four goals and three assists, while Narloch had three goals and three assists. One or both of them factored into nine of Lake Orion’s 11 goals. Oxford, meanwhile, got a hat trick from Payton Scott and two goals from Caden Rhoades.

Both teams open up divisional play on Thursday. Lake Orion (3-1) travels to Seaholm to take on Birmingham United in OAA Red play. Oxford (1-3) will look to get back in the win column on the same evening when the Wildcats dig into OAA White play against Rochester.

“The momentum swung their way. Lacrosse is a game of runs. We started picking that up in the fourth (quarter), and I’m super proud of our guys. This is a tough battle,” Oxford head coach Noah Grove said. “I think that we’ve got a bright future for us, and this is one of those stepping stones in the right direction.”