Where: Copley-Fairlawn Stadium (Click here for directions)
When: Friday September 10th, 7pm
All Time Series: Orrville leads the all-time 24-12, including the last 4 wins in a row (Click here for detail).
Last Meeting: 2009 (Orrville won 32-13)
Last Week: Orrville defeated Triway, 41-19, Copley beat Cleve. JFK, 38-21.
Coaches: Doug Davault is in his 5th year as Orrville head coach, his overall record is 34-14, including a perfect 4-0 against Copley. Ron Viscounte is in his 4th year at Copley with an overall record of 12-20.
Turf game
Copley's InfoCision Field has been turf since 2008. This will be the first of two turf games for the Riders this season, with the matchup at Ashland being the other. The Riders record on turf is 4 wins & 3 losses in the Coach Davault era.
Copley Offense
Orrville has faced 2 talented offenses so far this season in Northwest and Triway. Copley will be the most balanced we've seen so far, and probably the most talented too. Their offense is led by junior quarterback Lou Gigliotti (pronounced Jih-Lott-e). Coming off a 1400 yard-10 touchdown sophomore season, he's well on his way to a stellar junior year, already tallying 557 passing yards and 7 TD's. His favorite targets are junior CJ Chatman (201 rec. yards, 3 TD) and senior Shawn Taylor (223 rec. yards, 3 TD).
If you do the math, you'll see that the two have combined for 424 of Gigliotti's 557 passing yards, and 6 of his 7 TD's. They are option 1 and option 1-A in the Copley passing attack. It will be interesting to watch the matchup between Copley's receivers and Orrville's DB's Tre Simpson and Stewart Turner.
Copley's feature back is sophomore Argeros Turner. He posted nearly 1100 rushing yards as a freshman and has posted 215 yards so far this season and has three trips to the endzone as well. He'll easily be the best back the Riders have faced in the young season.
Big Points Game
A win for either team will bring a nice collection of computer points. Copley currently sits 2nd in Division 2, Region 5...while Orrville is tied for 2nd with Elyria Catholic and Huron in Division 4, Region 14. A Rider win will likely vault them into first place.
"Max"imum Impact
We saw it last week against Triway...there's nothing like having a Big10 recruit chasing down the other team's QB, and that's what senior DE/LB Max Pirman brought in terms of impact last week. Copley will no doubt be ready for him, but if he's able to pressure Gigliotti, it may force some bad throws and give the Rider defense some turnover opportunities.
Copley's Turner vs Rider defense
One way to keep the Rider defense from pinning their ears back and chasing the down the QB is to keep them honest with a solid run game....and that's what "Deucie" Turner can do for the Indians. If he's able to get some early running room, the Riders will have to respect his ability and that's when they will look to pass the ball.
Nice Copley website
I always like finding info on the web for our upcoming opponents and found a very nice site dedicated to Copley football. The link is here. Very informative and very current....two things a site has to have.
Their graphic for their game preview is very nice too....a little better than mine I'll admit......
Thoughts/Predictions
Calpreps.com says we win for the 2nd week in a row...31-21. Again, that sounds about right.
I'm guessing the Daily Record hops on the bandwagon and picks us to win this week...hopefully not the kiss of death.
An Akron-area based high school sports site, SportsInk.com is also previewing the game. They say that Orrville hasn't seen a QB like Gigliotti....and I'd completely disagree with that statement.
I'd counter that we've seen two QB's in two games that throw the ball all over the field in Northwest's Nick Riley and Triway's Derek Carmichael. Our defense has had two games in a row against pass-first offenses, and it sounds like Copley will be another. It wont be anything we HAVEN'T seen over the first two weeks.
If they'd have said we haven't seen an offense like Copley's, I'd agree 100%. They'll be the most talented offense we've seen to date, but we'll be the most talented team they've faced too....so I guess it's a wash.
Lastly, the Orrville/Copley matchup was part of the Beacon Journal's "Gridlocks" picks for week 3. Here's the video, jump ahead to 50 seconds. Try your best to ignore the "wonderful" production value and the unforgivable mistake of spelling of Orrville with one "r". Really? Do they spell Akron with two "n's," I doubt it.
So I guess that's 2 votes to 1 in favor of Copley from the ABJ staff.
Me....I'm a little more confident after last week, but fearing the letdown game. We seem to play better with a chip on our shoulder...and I hope we can find something to feel disrespected about heading in to this one. We'll have to play a sold game in all facets (again) to bring the win back to Wayne County.
I think we'll need a big night from our running game and another strong defensive outing.
2 comments:
This may be the first time Jim Isabella actually picked Orrville. He always seems to pick against us.
He learned last year...you pick against the Red Riders at your own journalistic peril.
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