Wooster football action

  • By Brian Questel of the Wooster Weekly News
  • November 2, 2009
  • 679
                        
It’s the thing about rivalries, especially one as respected as this. When Wooster and Orrville gather in the arena of athletic competition, it’s never as an afterthought. Preparation goes into each meeting, especially in anticipation of the lynchpin of this aged rivalry. As this rivalry nears its century mark, the eyes of both communities will be focused on Red Rider Stadium at 7 p.m. Friday evening, when the football Generals (5-4, 3-3 Ohio Cardinal Conference) and Riders (6-3, 5-1 OCC) face off for the 99th time. Those fans are arriving late, though. This is a game that has been on the thoughts and minds of coaches and players alike for the past year and the preparations for it began long before the 30th of October arrived. “It’s there all the time, but it is in the background until this week,” said 11th-year Wooster High School (WHS) coach Mike McCreary who, like his counterpart at Orrville, Doug Devault, has played, coached, and then become head coach at their alma mater. “Officially we started after week 9, but throughout the year once you start trading film, you watch and take a look. We see Orrville and what they are doing, and we see how they attack teams.” In both camps, the work began in earnest the morning after the ninth game. This year, that marked Wooster’s fifth win of the season after the Generals won their second straight game when they knocked off West Holmes 21-20. “Saturday morning the JV coaches come in and go to the JV game, and the kids who need to get looked at by the trainers or doctors are in at 7:30,” said McCreary. “We’re in at 7:30 or even by 7 and we start breaking down the ninth game. Then we break down the other three tapes of Orrville… and we’re usually there until noon or 1 (p.m.).” While the staff doesn’t meet the rest of the weekend, that hardly means activity stops. Coaches were watching tapes for any clue that could give their team an edge, no matter how small, as the game plan begins the refining process. “We’ll come in Monday and watch film with the kids… and take 45 minutes before we start to go out to practice to see what we want to do and what fits and doesn’t fit,” said McCreary. “We’ll go out the next two to three days and see how we react and what we like and don’t like. “We’ve had the offseason and broken down films, so we have an idea of what we want to do… and tweak it. Some stuff we figured out in the offseason, but based on any new stuff we see we try it out to see if it has changed.” Even with two veteran coaches who know each other, change is always there in a game such as this. McCreary has seen the Riders evolve from a straight drop-back quarterback in Tom Hiller to one in Joey Besancon who can both move in the pocket, scramble from trouble and produce with both his legs and arm. “This is a very talented (Orrville) team,” said McCreary. “We have a good idea of what to do (defensively) – the question becomes, can we stop you?” One of the attractions of this game has hinged on the week’s activities, including an annual captain’s meal that rotates annually. “It’s a good meal, but it is interesting to see the kids out of the football realm,” said McCreary. “It’s nice for me to meet the Orrville kids away from football and hopefully vice versa. It’s different.” That it is. The focus Friday night will be on playmakers such as Besancon and Sam Miller for Orrville, and Wooster’s Bryan Gallo-Malta, Duke Price, and Stewart Turner. While Wooster won the first five games of this decade, the Riders have won the past four, including a 31-0 verdict last year. The young men from these two communities focused on a final score and bragging rights for another year last Friday night, and rightly so. However, as the final seconds ticked off the clock, something else happened: Preparations for 2010 had already begun.


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