Week 2 Preview - Orrville vs Triway

Who: Orrville Red Riders (0-1) vs. Triway Titans (1-0)
Where: Red Rider Stadium - Orrville
When: Friday August 29th, 7pm

All Time Series: Orrville leads 30-5
Last Meeting: 2007 (Orrville won 35-12)
Last Week: Orrville lost to Northwest 34-13, Triway beat West Holmes 14-7

This is the 2nd meeting in the renewed rivalry between these 2 Wayne County schools, and first at Red Rider Stadium since the 2002 season. Triway has NEVER beaten the Red Riders at Red Rider Stadium, with all 5 Titan victories in the series coming at Triway.

Triway is coming off a big win against West Holmes, while Orrville looks to post their first win of the season after losing to Northwest 34-13.

What Orrville must do to win: Diversify. If you could see the future and knew going into last week that the Riders would put up nearly 350 yards of offense, you'd have put their chances of winning at pretty good, right? If not, you could at least say with some confidence that they'd score 14 points, right? Wrong on both counts, the Riders sputtered in the red zone and could not turn long drives into touchdowns, settling for 2 field goals. The Riders have to get production from their core of running backs, in addition to a similar performance from junior QB Joey Besancon to loosen up Triway's defense.

The Rider defense also must rebound from a tough outing against Northwest. The Indians ran for nearly 250 yds and wore out the Riders new 3-3-5 defense.

What Triway must to do win: The best defense against Orrville's offense may be to try and keep them off the field. Triway will need to control the clock and chip away at Orrville's defense and hope for a big play or two. On defense, they may have to take some risks to try and force Orrville into some turnovers. Short of that, they will need to contain Besancon and limit Orrville's receivers from getting yards after the catch.

Key players: Orrville's Joey Besancon and Triway's Cole Drake. Both QB's will have to have excellent games for their respective teams. Besancon put up big numbers in his first game as the full time signal caller for the Riders, passing for 225 yds and running for another 100 yards. Drake will look to confidently lead the Titans to their 2nd straight win. Both juniors are excellent all-around athletes.

Summary: A Triway win and the Titans instantly become a playoff contender in Divison 4, an Orrville win get the Riders on the winning track and continues their winning way on the gridiron against the Titans.

Prediction: Orrville 34-20.