Orrville rolls past Wooster in 114th football meeting

The Wooster vs. Orrville football rivalry has more history than any in Wayne County, dating back to 1903.

However, the 2025 season-opening matchup had great uncertainty with new head coaches on both sidelines.

After the final whistle at Red Rider Stadium on Aug. 22, Orrville and its fans walked away smiling after a 56-23 victory in the 114th meeting between the schools.

Any question marks about how the Riders would perform under new coach Brent Besancon turned into exclamation points. The Smithville alum and veteran of previous head coaching stops at New London, Rittman, Smithville and, most recently, Madison had Orrville firing on all cylinders from the opening kickoff.

The Riders, coming off a 4-6 season, had the game put away by the half with a 36-13 lead.

“I'm really, really proud of the kids' effort,” said Besancon, whose Riders moved on to another rivalry game at West Holmes in week two. “I'm proud of the week of preparation. We had one of the most fantastic weeks of practice, and this was our first week of school. Usually, you struggle in the first week of school.

“I’m sometimes not the easiest person to coach for, and I also thought my coaching staff did a great job. Overall, with the intensity of the rivalry, I thought our kids carried themselves really well.”

Orrville displayed the sound blocking, run game and tackling Besancon’s teams have been known for, but the Riders also opened it up with big plays that blew the game open.

Junior Parker Hostetler was selected as Orrville’s Joseph R. Benden Player of the Game after carrying the ball 17 times for 136 yards and two TDs.

Senior quarterback Cameron Kraft was nearly perfect through the air, completing 12-of-16 passes for 114 yards and two TDs. Both scoring tosses went to 6-foot-5 senior wide receiver Breylon McDuffie on plays of 10 yards and 4.

McDuffie also scored a 75-yard interception return to put Orrville up 35-9 with 4:38 left in the second quarter, which came just 1:10 after junior Case McDaniel had a Pick-6 that covered 70 yards.

“It’s a great feeling,” McDuffie said after the win. “We worked hard all summer and going into the season.

“We really played together tonight. We’ve learned a lot from this new coaching staff. It may have been questionable going into the season, but I think we overcame all that, and we’re gonna have an exciting season.”

It can be rough for a new coach to implement their style, but Besancon said Orrville has been very welcoming. And if the Riders continue to play like they did in the opener, the reception will keep getting friendlier.

“I feel like it was easy to fit in here at Orrville,” said Besancon, whose family farm is just 4 miles from both Orrville and Wooster. “Every coach is different in the way they go about things.

“My expectations are a little bit different. I’d never call it a ‘culture change’ because (previous coach) Matt (Zuercher) and I are good friends. I’m just being myself, and I really like how the team is working.”

First-year Wooster coach Ray Leek and his staff will have to clean things up and get their players’ confidence up heading into a week two home opener against North Royalton.

“It just comes down to being disciplined,” said Leek, who has previously coached at Dalton, Cambridge and Mapleton. “We have to do a better job with the fundamentals: limit penalties, taking care of the football, tackling, blocking.”

The Generals had several positives to reflect on despite losing to Orrville for the second straight year.

Freshmen Sam Schantz and J.R. Wright both looked poised well beyond their years as they made memorable high school debuts.

Schantz returned a kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown with six seconds left in the first half. He also had three catches for 66 yards including going high in the air to pull in a 34-yard reception in a crowd after a heave by Wright.

“Sam’s a dude, man,” Leek said. “He’s special; he’s different. He took one to the house (on the kickoff return) and had some big catches. For a freshman, that's a huge, huge thing for our program, and we're gonna build off that for the next four years.”

Wright played quarterback most of the second half and finished 5-for-8 passing for 74 yards while adding six carries for 29 yards including a 1-yard score to cap the Generals’ lone touchdown drive.

The other touchdowns came after kickoff returns from Schantz and junior Logan Gattuso, Wooster’s Benden Award winner, who added a 72-yard scoring return early in the second quarter.

“I was proud of the way we played the second half,” Leek said. “I definitely think we got better. That's the attitude we’ve got to play with and continue to grow from there.”

Wooster junior Landen Bird started his first varsity game and was 9-for-19 passing for 105 yards and two interceptions. His favorite target was 6-4 junior tight end Jameson Engman (5-81 receiving), who hadn’t played football the last two years.

Sophomore Mon’Tierre Coleman led the Generals with 12 carries for 65 yards.

Asked about the quarterback spot going forward, Leek said, “We’re going to continue to work with everybody, and whoever gives us the best chance to win, we’ll play.”