Orrville vs Wooster - The 100th game - News & Updates

Any news and info surrounding "The 100th Game" will be posted here.  It's linked at the top of the page, so click there every few days for the latest.  I'll post the newest info at the top of the page.

First thing I want to show off get out of the way is this...........(Click for fullsize)

Wooster Game Classics - Quick Hitters

Note: This is the third (and last) in a series of "lookbacks" into some of the great games and great performances in Orrville history against their rivals from Wooster. Today's feature details the 1982, 1987 and 1994 games.


1982

The Generals again entered the week 10 matchup as the favorites, but the Riders entered Mauer Field and came away victorious, their 3rd straight win at Wooster, 26-6.
The Generals tallied nearly 300 yards through the air, but only managed 6 points, as the Riders used big plays and took advantage of every opportunity.

Here's the game article, note that the Wooster QB is their current head coach Mike McCreary.

Uni Note: Note that the Riders are wearing white jerseys on the road.....so somewhere between 1977 and 1982, the switch to "red at home" and "white on the road" was made.

Quick Sidebar: 1984

This is not from a Wooster game, but it just might be the quintessential Orrville Football picture. It simply has it all......Mo, cowboy hat, skull stickers, Tom Bolyard...simply a work of art. If you do nothing else, you need to look at this picture. 1980's Orrville Football personified.

1987

This was the 3rd of 4 undefeated regular season in the 80's for the Riders, and one that saw their defense give up a TOTAL of 39 points in 10 regular season games, including a complete shutout of every AOL team. All that was left was to beat Wooster, and the Riders came through, posting a 21-10 win at Red Rider Stadium.

The Generals rushed for 122 yds against the Steve Kovacs led defense, the only team to rush for over 100 yds as a team all season.

Game article here.

1994

This was the first Orrville-Wooster game at the new Follis Field, and the Riders christened in the way only a Red Rider could love, by putting up 40 points and shutting out the Generals. The Riders potent offense led by QB Jared Zwick, RB Tom Reusser and WR's Marcel Denson and Renauld Ray drove up and down the field and the Riders senior laden defense held the Generals in check.

It would be the first of two wins at Follis Field, and the first of 2 shutouts, as the Riders would beat Clear Fork the very next week in the first round of the playoffs 19-0. The Riders won more games at Follis Field in 1994 than the Generals did, and the Riders would continue the dominance on the basketball court, beating the Generals at the College of Wooster a month later by the same 40 point margin.

The 1994 Riders would advance all the way to the state finals in Division 4, before being bounced by Germantown Valley View.

Here's the article from the game.


That's it for the rewind machine....hope you've enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed researching them. Honestly, I could a writeup for every Orrville/Wooster game, it was hard picking just a few.

I'd love to hear any and all feedback. Thanks for reading.

Go Riders! Beat Wooster!

Orrville/Wooster - By the Numbers

All-Time Series: Wooster leads 50-39-9

First Game: 1903 (Won by Wooster 22-6)

First Orrville Win: 1917 (The 8th Meeting, Orrville 13-0)

Longest Win Streak for Wooster: 7 (1903-1916)

Longest Win Streak for Orrville: 6 (1994-1999)

All-Tim Series Score: Wooster leads 1621-1234

Most Points Scored by Wooster: 67 (1913: Wooster 67-0)

Most Points Scored by Orrville: 55 (1995: Orrville 55-6)

Largest Margin of Victory: 67 (1913: Wooster 67-0)

Least Points scored by Winning team: 3 (1979: Wooster 3-0)

Shutouts by Wooster (not counting ties): 26 (last one was in 1981)

Shutouts by Orrville (not counting ties): 12 (last one was in 2008)

Games played at Neutral Sites: 4 (2 at the COW, 2 at the Wayne Co. Fairgrouds)

Orrville coaching records versus Wooster:
Bill McMillan (11-7)
Mo Tipton (10-9-3)
Bill Shunkwiler (3-6-1)
Doug Davault (3-0)

One item of note, Tipton started out 1-6-3 in his first 10 Wooster games, but went 9-3 over his final 12 seasons. Almost opposite, Bill McMillan was 10-2 in his first 12 years against Wooster, but then lost 5 of his last 6 to finsih 11-7 against the Generals.

Wooster Game Classics - The Griggs Years

Note: This is the second in a series of "lookbacks" into some of the great games and great performances in Orrville history against their rivals from Wooster. Today's feature details the 1975, 1976 and 1977 games.

Wooster Game Classics - 1959 & 1964

Note: This is the first in a series of "lookbacks" into some of the great games and great performances in Orrville history against their rivals from Wooster. Today's feature details the 1959 and 1964 games.

1959: Howard runs the Riders to victory

In what was probably the first great individual performance by a Red Rider in a Wooster game, senior back Bobby Howard rushed for 210 yds and 3 TD's, and a 75 yd punt return for a TD in leading the Riders to a 32-22 win at Orrville.

Howard's 3 rushing TD's were not merely goal line plunges, but rather long runs of 72, 45 and 50 yards. The 50 yd TD run came in the 4th quarter as the Riders were nursing a 26-22 lead, and effectively put the game away. Howard's performance would not be eclipsed until nearly 20 years later by Mark Griggs' 5 TD's in the 1975 game.

At the time, the win was the 2nd highest winning score by an Orrville team and broke a 5 game winless streak (0-4-1) against the Generals, who were favored in this matchup by 2 TD's in "pregame ballotting" (I'd love to see what that consisted of), according to the game article. The combined 54 points was the highest point total in an Orrville-Wooster game since 1931 (A 61-0 Wooster win).

With the win, the Riders finished the '59 season with a 4-5 record, while the Generals finished 6-4.

Note: I'd post the article, but the microfilm was very blurry.

1964: "Hoss" Houmard leads the way

The 1964 Red Rider squad came into the Wooster game with an 8-1 record (only loss to Coventry) and their 2nd Chippewa Conference title (in the 2nd year of the Chipp Conference) in a row, boasting a defense allowing less than 7 points a game, and an offense that averaged over 35 ppg.

Leading the way for the Riders was senior all-state back Bob Houmard, who ran for 1000+ yds plus in each of his junior and senior seasons. Legendary coach Bill Shunkwiler called Houmard "the best all-around back I've coached."

Houmard found the endzone twice, and ran for 136 yds on 25 carries, but was also assisted by a littany of fellow Red Riders, led by senior back Mike Norman (82 yds on 14 carries) and junior back Fred Ray (110 yds on 6 carries), Jim Lyon (56 yds & a TD) and Dave Yonto (52 yds on 2 carries).

The Rider defense was led by cornerbacks Paul Reusser and Howard Lorson.

The Generals had no answers on either side of the ball, and the Riders ran at will to a 40-8 win over Roman Majerczak's Generals at Mauer Field, capping a 9-1 season.

It was Wooster's most lopsided loss of the season, and most lopsided Orrville win in the history of the series to date, a record that stood exactly 30 years.

What struck me about this article was the complete team effort, on both sides of the ball. I'd like to believe that the young men on this team banded together for 1 common cause, to beat Wooster.

Again, the microfilm printed out very blurry, but here's a picture from the game of Bob Houmard slicing through the Generals defense. Uni Note: Take a look at those Orrville helmets.....what a thing of beauty.

The article mentioned a "jinx" on the Riders when it came to beating Wooster, and in looking through the archives, it was accurate. The Riders won over 70% of their games in the 1960's but only managed a 2-5-3 record against the Generals, and especially tough games in 1960, 1968 and 1969 where the Riders came into the Wooster game undefeated, but left with either a loss (1960) or a tie (1968, 1969).

Wooster Week - Calling All Riders!!!!

I want to provide an opportunity for you, the reader, to relay any story that you think is relevant to Wooster week. The prespetive does not matter, if you're a player, a parent, a fan, a coach, band member, cheerleader, official, it makes no difference. I'd love to get some stories or memories dealing with the entire spectrum of the week. Anything that is memorable to you, or left an impact on you.

And the angle of your story or memory does not matter either. If it's about the Wooster Senior Assembly, putting the pads on 1 final time, beating Wooster and making the playoffs, a personal recollection of a memorable game or performance, going to the bonfire...whatver. It's truly a blank slate for you to fill. All I ask is that it be relatable to the Orrville/Wooster rivalry.

Use the comment section below to post your stories & recollections, I will not publish any messages left in the comment section to this particular post, rather I will use them in a separate post, to be posted hopefully the morning of the bonfire, to give everyone plenty of time to read them.

Sharpen your pencils fellow Riders, let's really make this something that brings to life the passion that we all share.

Here's your inspiration, should you need any........


PS - Please, if you know of someone that hasn't yet discovered this blog, but think they could contribute a Wooster Week memory, forward them this link. Just copy and paste this link in an email and send it to them.......
http://redridersports.blogspot.com/2008/10/wooster-week-calling-all-riders.html

Beat Wooster!!