The rousing rendition of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by the Lake Orion lacrosse team when it huddled after defeating Dakota 9-4 on Wednesday in the Division 1 regional championship game had a special significance.

“It’s become the thing after every big win,” coach Ron Hebert said of the tradition that started three years ago when one of the dads started playing the John Denver classic after wins.

“We all made fun of it. One of my captains and I started singing it as a joke. To my surprise, all of the boys joined in. The kids love it. It’s become a tradition. It’s fun.”

The victory followed a familiar pattern for the host Dragons.

Dakota’s Jake Brender opened the scoring 31 seconds into the game, however it didn’t take long for Lake Orion to seize the momentum.

Jackson Vasquez scored three quick goals to start a 6-0 run for the Dragons that put them ahead 6-1 early in the second quarter. Coby Narloch, Luke Burzynski and Jeffrey Gordon scored the last three goals of the run.

“That’s been the thing a lot this season,” said Vasquez, who finished with four goals and an assist. “We might start off slow but you have to keep rolling and stay on the gas pedal. That’s what we did.”

Brender got the Cougars’ second goal with 7:25 left in the first half and Alex Karr scored the first goal of the second half to cut the Lake Orion lead to 6-3.

If those goals gave Dakota some momentum, the Dragons snatched it back with goals from Gordon and Vasquez.

Drew Callison scored for Dakota in the final minute of the third quarter. Lake Orion’s Nicholas Frantz scored the only goal of the fourth quarter and the Dragons kept the ball in their possession for most of the final 12 minutes.

“That’s our plan,” Hebert said. “That’s why I like to have the team in front of me in the fourth quarter — so we can control the ball. In the third quarter things got a little crazy so in the fourth quarter I just yelled at them, ‘Control the ball! Control the ball!’”

Hebert used both of his timeouts in the fourth quarter to reinforce that point to his team.

“We have a little more experience in games like this,” Hebert said. “We had to grind this out. We have some good players and they stepped up for us. Jackson has been terrific.”

This is the first season that Vasquez has played an attack position and he has adapted well to the change.

“Coach told me I have to be the quarterback of the offense so I try to take charge and get the guys where they’re supposed to be. I try to make things happen. When things start to go down I try to keep my composure and do my best.

“I’ve been a midfielder all my life but we lost some attackmen who were seniors last year so I’ve tried to step into the spot. Now I love it.”

This was the third time Dakota has reached a regional final and it was the Cougars’ best performance.

“I love that we made a good lacrosse program in Lake Orion play good lacrosse,” said Dakota coach Mike Benavides. “They didn’t get sloppy goals. We made them work for everything they got. They earned the victory. That’s a program that’s been around three or four times more than we have.

“We’re in year nine. Our kids are just learning to do the right things. The last two times (in a regional final) against Catholic Central and Clarkston we were not competitive. We were competitive today. Our kids did a lot of great things. It just came down to them having more experience. They did a good job of picking up ground balls — the little things that turn into big things when it comes to playoffs. We’re going to work on the little things so next year we can do the big things.”

Benavides credits his senior class of 19 players for making the program more competitive.

“Without a doubt, this group has left its mark on Dakota lacrosse,” he said. “They were transformational. Every day when I go to the stadium there’s a bunch of underclassmen shooting, playing wall ball. It’s all because they want to be like these seniors.

Top to bottom, I couldn’t ask for a better group of young men. They’re incredible.”

Dakota finished the season with a 14-6 record.

Lake Orion advances to the quarterfinals against Catholic Central on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Troy Athens. It’s the first time the Dragons have played the Shamrocks since the 2019 state semifinals. CC won that game 14-13 in overtime.

“We’re playing the best team in the state,” Hebert said.

“We just want to do well for ourselves. We’re 15-5. That’s what we are. This is nice.

“We’ll enjoy this and try the best we can against CC.”