Below are season previews for the Orrville and Waynedale boys soccer teams.
Orrville
The Red Riders have quietly become a state power
of sorts. Their seasons seem to get ended each year by other
state powers including Revere, Bay and St. Vincent-St. Mary. The last couple of years, more regionally strong squads like Norton and Mogadore Field ended
Orrville’s season.
Nobody in the Principals Athletic Conference is likely to
dispute the distinction. That’s because to the rest of the PAC, the Red Riders
are very much a legit power.
Orrville heads into the 2025 season on a 52-game unbeaten
streak. The Red Riders' 47-match win streak was stopped a year ago by a
scoreless tie with Canton South.
Orrville has not lost a PAC game since Sept. 25, 2019, when
the Red Riders fell 4-3 to Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, which is no
longer in the league. As a result Orrville is looking for its sixth
consecutive outright PAC championship this year and seventh overall. It was
back in 2018 when the Red Riders placed fourth and last didn’t capture
the crown.
“(We’re) looking for a strong
performance in conference play to set ourselves up to compete for a conference
title,” said Orrville coach Jaime Maravilla, who owns a 28-4-3 career record at the
helm.
The Red Riders won the Principals Athletic Conference
championship last year with an 11-0-1 record. They were 14-2-2 overall. Their
PAC mark edged runner-up Canton South (10-1-1) by half a game.
The teams’ two matchups, a 4-2 Orrville victory and a
scoreless tie, provided Orrville with its winning margin. Overall, the Red
Riders were dominant, outscoring conference foes by a combined 67-7.
The postseason hasn’t gone quite as well, with Orrville
consistently running into some of the best Northeast Ohio has to offer. Last
year the Red Riders got their Division IV postseason off quickly, winning 10-0
over Conneaut, but were eliminated by Mogadore Field 3-0 in a district
semifinal contest. Field, second-seeded in the region, one spot ahead of
Orrville, went on to fall to Poland Seminary in the regional semifinals in
overtime.
This year the team will go ahead without seven
letter-winners from a year ago but has plenty back.
Included in that group are seniors Xavier Brown
(midfield/forward), Caleb Carter (midfield), Edwin Aguilera Martinez (midfield)
and Kellen Wyatt (midfield/defender); juniors Peyton Casto (forward) and Yeremi
Martinez Gonzales (midfield/forward); and sophomore Zayler Veemara (defender).
Maravilla pointed to Aguilera Martinez’s vision and foot
skill as a strong point, and he will be looked to to run the offense. The coach
called Carter a good all-around player and strong defender who will help
control the center of the field. Wyatt, he said, has great speed and a good shot,
is “lethal in the air,” and can play any position.
New to the fold are seniors Carter Hostetler (midfield) and
Dane Vodika (midfield/defender) and juniors Christian Gesaman (defender), Aaden
Miller (goalkeeper), Kalih Restropo (midfielder) and Noah Richardson
(midfield).
Maravilla said he expects his team to be strong and balanced
in the midfield this year, allowing the Red Riders to move the ball well and
hold possession. Lack of experience for roughly half the starting lineup will
be a possible downside.
Barring any kind of crazy turnaround for anyone, the Red
Riders and Canton South again could be battling for the conference
championship. They meet for the first time on Wednesday, Aug. 27 with the
rematch on Sept. 24, also a midweek game.
Waynedale
The Golden Bears, if nothing else, have coaching experience
on their side. In Larry Cerniglia, Waynedale boasts a 35-year coaching veteran
with more than 250 victories under his belt.
Of those, a half-dozen came last year during a 6-13 season
that saw the Golden Bears finish fourth in the Wayne County Athletic League
with a 3-7 record.
Waynedale will have plenty of veterans on the field too,
with only three letter-winners lost from a year ago. That means 10 players with
good varsity experience have found their way back to the roster this year. For
those not doing the math, though, that means numbers could be a bit of a
problem.
“Our weakness will be roster depth,” Cerniglia said.
Back this year are seniors Seth Hostetler (midfielder),
Lance Kearney (defender) and Dakotah Capeletty (forward), along with juniors
Jace Hilty (midfielder), Parker Reich (defender), Chase Woofter (defender),
Kace Milner (forward), Cordell Troyer (midfielder), Broc Badger (goalkeeper) and
Bronson Wickens (midfielder). They will be supplemented by a pair of youngsters
in freshmen midfielder Leo Bates and forward Dominic Cerniglia.
Others who could help out are juniors Jarrod Hilty, Gavin
Sarver and Bronson Wickens and sophomore John McCune.
Milner returns as the top scorer from a year ago, when
he tallied four goals and an assist. That trailed graduate Weston Hilty’s five goals and three assists. Jace Hilty
tacked on a pair of goals and matched them with two assists.
Someone will need to fill an unexpected void created by a
knee injury incurred by sophomore Ernesto Reyes, who started his career
with three goals as a freshman.
