Playoffs: Riders, Colts set for rematch

There's still a few things to shake out in the region, but Orrville and Clear Fork will face each other in a rematch of their week 9 battle.

Week 10 - "The Game" - Wooster at Orrville - 99th Edition

Who: Wooster Generals (5-4, 3-3) vs. Orrville Red Riders (6-3, 5-1)
Where: Red Rider Stadium
When: Friday October 30th, 7:00pm

All Time Series: Wooster leads 50-39-9 (Detail here)
Last Meeting: 2008 (Orrville won 31-0)
Last Week: Orrville beat Clear Fork, 31-21, Wooster beat West Holmes, 21-20.
Coaches: Doug Davault is 29-13 in his 4th year as Rider coach, his teams are a perfect 4-0 in Wooster games. Mike McCreary is 58-53 in his 11th year as Generals coach, he is 5-5 against Orrville.

Radio:  As always, the game will be broadcast on WQKT, and also streamed on WQKT.com.

Here & There

Best time of year, IMO, to be an Orrville sports fan. Also means there's a lot to report on.

It's the best.....and the worst.

Football: Awesome old-school pictures

Ok guys, brace yourselves.  The following pictures showed up in my inbox over the weekend, and holy moses....what a collection.  Turns out, they were sent by the "godfather" of Orrville Sports websites, John Stocker.  John ran an Orrville Football site back in the 90's, and did a great job with it too.  Game recaps, stats, pictures....it was really well done.  Here's the archived version of his site that I just found....some of the pics and links may be broken, but this is how I remember it.  I'll let his words illustrate some of these pics.

Let's get to the goodstuff.

Football: Playoffs Clinched & Wooster Week

Big weekend for the Rider football team. A 32-21 win over Clear Fork (story, pics) locked up Orrville's 20th playoff berth, and with arch-rival Wooster coming to town for the 99th meeting in series history, it will be a busy week of practice and anticipation at the corner of Ella and Mineral Spring St. 

Let's break it all down...

Week 9 - Orrville @ Clear Fork

***Game will be broadcast on Mansfield Radio WMFD. Click here to stream starting at 7pm.*** (Stream the game and browse my archives, what a way to spend a Friday night.)

Who: Orrville Red Riders (5-3, 4-1 in OCC) vs. Clear Fork Colts (6-2, 4-1 in OCC)
Where: The Colt Corral - Bellville, OH (Map & Directions)
When: Friday October 23rd, 7pm

All Time Series: Orrville leads 7-0 (Click here for detail)
Last Meeting: 2008 (Orrville won 29-15)
Last Week: Orrville beat Mansfield Madison 41-24, Clear Fork lost to Ashland 35-28.

Region 14 Standings: Clear Fork sits 3rd in the region with 14.4125 points, while Orrville sits 6th with 12.625 points. A win over Orrville would gain Clear Fork an additional 3.2 points, while an Orrville win would net the Riders an additional 3.95 points. Both teams can cement a playoff berth with a win.

Coaches: Doug Davault is 28-13 in his 4th year as Orrville coach. Dave Carrol is in his first season as Clear Fork coach, he's a Clear Fork alum and had coached the previous 11 seasons at Urbana, compiling an impressive 86-32 record with 6 playoff appearances and 5 conference titles (Central Buckeye Conference).

Open House Announced for Multi-Purpose Facility

This was in the Daily Record, but one paragraph bears repeating for emphasis.

"(Superintendant Jon) Ritchie announced that a public open house will be held at the multipurpose facility on Oct. 30, before the Orrville-Wooster football game. The open house will run from 5:30 p.m. until kickoff time at Red Rider Stadium. The $1.1 million building was constructed with donations from private citizens, but the school district will take over ownership, using it for a variety of sports, academic and community activities."

Can't wait to see it. The cherry on top of the sundae would be if there was some signage or a school logo on the front of the building. Similar to this, but not as grandiose, obviously.

Simmons honored (again!) and Hiller breaks record

Another week, another set of honors for Kyle Simmons and Tim Hiller.

My Trip to Bloomington: Part I

I had the pleasure of traveling to Bloomington, IN to cover Tim Hiller and the Western Michigan University football team as they took on the Indiana Hoosiers. The article on the game and Tim's performance ran in Orrviews last month, but there was plenty of minutiae that I had the pleasure to document....some cool, some funny...but all of it was interesting. I hope you find it interesting too.

I'll break it into 2 parts...first part will focus on the pregame, and part 2 will be the game experience.

Allow me to take you to the grounds that Orrville native Bobby Knight made famous. Words and pictures follow....(as always, click each picture to see it full-size)

Volleyball: OCC (Tri) Champs; District Tourney Bracket

The Lady Rider volleyball team beat Ashland last night to secure a share of the OCC title along with Madison and Lexington. It's the Riders first OCC title since 2004, and 3rd overall since joining the league in 2003.

Week 8: Orrville @ Mansfield Madison

Who: Orrville Red Riders (4-3, 3-1) vs. Mansfield Madison Rams (1-6, 1-3)
Where: Ram Field - Mansfield (Click Here for Map & Directions)
When: Friday October 16th, 7:00pm

All Time Series: Orrville leads 23-15-1 (Click here for detail)
Last Meeting: 2008 (Orrville won 41-7)
Last Week: Orrville lost to Ashland 14-13, Madison lost to Clear Fork 55-13.
Coaches: Doug Davault is 27-13 and in his 4th year as Red Rider coach. Kevin Maltarich is in his first year as Ram head coach.

Radio: Game will be broadcast on the web at WMFD.com. Click here to find the game.

Bought on Ebay: 1951 Game Program - Orrville vs. Mansfield Madison

Bought this a few weeks ago on Ebay (for a whole penny + $5 shipping)...wanted to wait until the week of the Madison game to post it. That week is this week, so here you go.

College: Hiller Ties Record...Simmons named Player of the Week

Two Orrville alumni QB's had big weekends in the college ranks.

Basketball: WQKT/Smitty Classic Lineup Finalized

The lineup for the 5th annual WQKT/Steve Smith Holiday Hoops Classic has been finalized, and while the tournament shrinks to just one day this year, the quality of games and level of talent among the 12 teams may be the best ever.

Week 7: Ashland @ Orrville

Who: Orrville Red Riders (4-2, 3-0) vs. Ashland Arrows (5-1, 3-0)
Where: Red Rider Stadium, Orrville (Click Here for Map & Directions)
When: Friday October 9th, 7:00pm

All Time Series: Ashland leads 10-8-1 (Click here for detail)
Last Meeting: 2008 (Orrville won 21-0)
Last Week: Orrville beat West Holmes 42-0, Ashland beat Mansfield Sr 24-7.
Coaches: Doug Davault is 27-12 in his 4th season as Rider coach. Scott Valentine is in his 8th season as Arrow head coach, his overall record is 59-25.

Radio: Game will be aired live on WQKT 104.5, online at WQKT.com

Region 14 Analysis: This is Why They Let Computers Do This

Six weeks down, four to go. Time to start talking playoffs. The Riders currently sit 5th in the region with two huge points games left. Let's look at where we sit now and where we might sit a scant 4 weeks from now.