Who: Orrville Red Riders (3-1, 1-0) at Mansfield Senior Tygers (1-3, 0-1)
Where: Mansfield's Arlin Field (Directions Here)
When: Friday September 23, 2011
Last Week: Orrville beat Lexington 35-12, Senior lost to Clear Fork 35-28.
Series History: Orrville leads 9-5 (click here for detail)
Last Year: Orrville beat Senior 28-14.
Coaches: Orrville coach Doug Davault is 45-19 in his 6th year. Chioke Bradley is 7-7 in his 2nd season as Tyger head coach.
Radio/TV: The game will be broadcast on WRGM AM1440/97.3 FM starting at 6:45pm. It will also be streaming online...click here Friday evening to stream the game on your computer.
Overview: Two teams seemingly headed in opposite directions will meet up Friday night in Mansfield at the beautifully renovated Arlin Field. The Tygers are 1-3, losers of three straight games, and last week lost the focal point of their offense in senior running back Terrell Dorsey to a season ending leg injury. Orrville is fresh off a 35-12 drubbing of Lexington and is looking to stay perfect in the Ohio Cardinal Conference behind a quick-strike offense and a defense that has allowed the fewest total points (59) of any OCC team through 4 weeks. Orrville has won the last 5 meetings between the schools.
Five Things to Watch:
1. Tygers offense without Dorsey. According to TygerFootball.com, through the first 3 games, quarterback JR Davis was 5 of 34 passing for just 59 yards, so it was clear that Dorsey was the Tygers 1st (and maybe only) option on offense, but weird things can happen to teams that lose their star player...sometimes it allows a complete retooling of the offense and an opportunity for another player to step up. The Tygers trailed Clear Fork 28-0 at halftime of their game last week, but raced back to within a touchdown (all without Dorsey) late in the game. There is only about a half of a game worth of tape that the Riders can use to get an idea of what Senior can do without Dorsey and that's not much to go on. The element of surprise may come into play this week.
2. Turf at Arlin. This isn't so much a key to the game, but how awesome is it that a stadium with the history such as Arlin has gotten this much needed facelift? You just don't see stadium with this kind of history and ambiance anymore, the only thing holding it back was the deteriorating field conditions that made games late in the season and in the playoffs very muddy. Now it's a first class facility with the potential to host lots of playoff games and earn the district some needed revenue....not to mention it's a place the people of Mansfield can be very proud of. I'm sure the Orrville kids will be excited to play here too. Here's an article and 97 photo gallery of the improvements. Anyone who remembers the old playing surface at Arlin can't help but appreciate this work.
3. Offensive Consistently. I think all Rider fans can agree that last week's win over Lexington is how we like to see games won. No turnovers and a balanced passing and running game. I'd like to think that another week of practice will help that happen again this week. If I see another turnover-free game and balance from the run and pass game, I'll be willing to call that Copley loss a "good loss" because it's obviously gotten this team's attention and improved things for the better.
4. OCC Race. We're only a week in, but after this week, I'm predicting that only two unbeaten OCC teams will remain, Orrville and Ashland. I think Clear Fork falls to Lexington and West Holmes falls to Ashland, leaving the Riders and Arrows on another crash course for the inside track to an OCC title.
5. Defensive Touchdowns. In the Riders three wins, they've scored a defensive touchdown in each (Trevor Summers INT return for a TD vs. Northwest, Mason Monheim's INT return for a TD vs. Triway and Mason's strip and score last week vs. Lex.) game. Not saying it has to happen this week for us to win, but it's always a good sign when we score on special teams or on defense.
Predictions
Fantastic50.net say Orrville by 24 (the site also has us at a 99% chance to make the playoffs and an 84% chance to host a 1st round playoff game. They project us as a 4-seed and playing Manchester in the first round).
CalPreps.com says 38-14 (again 24 points).
That's it....Go Riders, beat the Tygers.
3 comments:
Wow its no longer a mud hole? Looks great! I remember some of the muddiest sloppiest playoff games there, Regional Championship between Massillon and Pickerington, and Regional Championship between Louisville and DeSales. Great stadium, should be a good game!
I have followed the football teams for several years via the web. What I sense in the last 6 years is the teams usually have enough talent to win the games they should. However, it appears the teams lose games they should have won. My question is: Do we need a stronger, more experienced coach, preferably from outside Orrville?
I look forward to comments and dicussions.
Riders65,
first off...thanks for contributing.
To your comment, I think it's unfair and just wrong to say that this has been going on for just the "last 6 years." Conveniently, that's the # of years Coach Davault has been at the head of this program, so that smacks of an agenda right out of the gate.
We've lost "games we should have won" for decades. I remember plenty of those games when Mac was coach, and what about going 10-0 and then losing our first playoff game under Mo? That happened a few times too. In the big picture, this coach and staff has won 7 playoff games since 2006, and has appeared in 3 regional championship games in that same stretch....most schools would take that in the drop of a hat.
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