Week 4 Preview - Orrville at Lexington

Who: Orrville Red Riders (1-2, 0-0) vs. Lexington Minutemen (2-1, 0-0)
Where: Lexington Stadium
When: Friday September 14th, 7:00pm

All Time Series: Orrville leads 8-5.
Last Meeting: 2011 (Orrville won 35-12)
Last Week: Orrville lost to Copley 34-28, Lexington lost Olentangy 35-21.

Coaches: Dan Studer takes over Minutemen football after BJ Payne resigned at the end of last season.  Studer is a Massillon graduate and one of the featured subjects in the film 'Go Tigers.'  Doug Davault is in his 7th season at Orrville, with an overall record of 51-24.

Radio/TV: None.

This isn't territory an Orrville football team is accustomed to.  The last time an Orrville football team lost 2 straight games was in 2009 when they dropped the first 2 games of the season to Northwest and Triway.  The Riders under Doug Davault have never lost 3 games in a row.  A 3-game losing streak hasn't happened since the 2002 season that saw them go 2-8.

The Riders will seek to avoid a 3-game losing streak when they travel to Lexington Friday night in the opening week of OCC play.  Lexington is coming off their first loss of the season last week so both teams will be looking to right the ship.

I hate to look any farther than this week, but if the Riders are to make a run at their 4th straight playoff appearance, this game is as "must win" as any week 4 game can be.  A 1-3 record with Mansfield Senior, West Holmes and Ashland looming on the schedule would not bode well for the Riders playoff chances.  But a win over the Minutemen Friday would give the Riders a much-needed jolt of confidence heading into 2 straight home games.

The Riders will look to build on last week's positive effort against Copley.  They fought back from down 28-7 to make it a 1 touchdown game.  If not for the effort of Copley's Aregeros Turner, the Riders might have pulled that game out.

For the 2nd straight week, the game won't be on TV or radio, which is a bit disappointing, as a drive to Lexington is nearly an hour.  This would be where a web radio broadcast specifically for Orrville games would come in real handy....someone should work on that.

Here's hoping for a Rider win.  Let's get this thing back on track.