'It means everything': Orrville football snaps three-year losing streak to rival Wooster

WOOSTER — Orrville's players knew exactly how much time had passed since seeing a victory slip away against their biggest rival.

Three hundred and seventy-two days.

They made sure there wouldn't be another countdown after the first Friday night of the 2024 season.

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Orrville got out to an early lead and never gave it back during a decisive 41-18 win over Wooster, snapping a three-game losing streak against the Generals to start out the year with a bang.

"It means everything," Orrville senior lineman Shane Troyer said. "We've been working so hard. We gave them one last year we should have had. It's good to get one. It's been eating at us for (372) days, thinking about it every day."

After watching Wooster celebrate a come-from-behind victory on a walk-off field goal a year ago, Orrville made certain there was no doubt down the stretch this time, scoring 17 points in the opening 10 minutes and not relenting as the game went along.

Orrville made all the right plays — converting three Wooster turnovers into points, along with recovering a surprise onside kick — while the Generals saw everything go wrong almost from the start.

The Red Riders busted two big pass plays early. Junior QB Cam Kraft — a first-year starter — found Breylon McDuffie for a 66-yard TD to start the scoring with 5:39 left in the first quarter. And just over a minute later, a play after Troyer came up with one of his two fumble recoveries, Kraft found Jax Haley for a 34-yard score with 4:38 left in the first to give Orrville a 14-0 lead to stun the home Generals.

Kaleb Wayt proved how valuable of a weapon he will be for Orrville this year in the first half as well, booting 47-yard and 49-yard field goals, with the 47-yarder clearing the crossbar by a good 10 yards.

But the most impressive thing Orrville showed Friday was its strength up front and its ability to finish strong.

With four three- or four-year starters on the offensive line — tackle Shane Troyer, guards Talon Beichler and Brahm Hostetler and center AJ Hills — Orrville moved the ball at will against Wooster's defense, piling up 404 total yards and keeping the ball for 30:26 of game time.

"Our offensive line, those guys have gone through the wars for three or four years," Zuercher said. "They've worked their tails off. They really took over as the game progressed. Kudos to them."

But Wooster still had an opportunity to get back in the game, with Julian Franklin busting an 80-yard touchdown run — his second TD run of 70-plus yards of the game — on the first play from scrimmage of the second half to make it 20-12. The Orrville team of last year watched multiple second-half leads slip away and the Red Riders could have reverted back to their old ways.

But it's a new year and a new Orrville team. Instead of letting Wooster back in the game, Orrville responded with its best drive of the game, methodically marching down the field to answer the blow, with Parker Hostetler finding his way into the end zone on a 3-yard run.

Hostetler made one of the biggest plays of the game on the next possession, blowing up a Wooster screen pass and nearly returning it for a touchdown. Travis Pumneo's 2-yard TD a play later gave Orrville a commanding 34-12 lead with 2:22 left in the third quarter. Jax Haley's 49-yard TD catch-and-run from Kraft punctuated Orrville's 21-point run on the final play of the quarter to bury the Generals.

It was the exact kind of second half performance Zuercher and his staff wanted to see from their team.

"I truthfully didn't want to sub on that last drive until we were taking victory (formation)," Zuercher said. "That was kind of the final statement to ourselves. We had three opportunities to do that, and we didn't. Tonight, we did that by finishing drives."

While many things went haywire for Wooster, the Generals still moved the ball effectively, showing promise for the rest of the season. Franklin looked like a true star, rushing for 281 yards and two scores on just 16 carries. Hayden Meese also gained 82 combined rushing and receiving yards.

Still, Wooster has a lot of work to do as it looks to improve on a three-win season a year ago.

"I was a little bit disappointed in our ability to play disciplined," Holter said. "And that's on me. That comes down to the preparation. But I thought we had some blown assignments and missed assignments, missed execution obviously with the turnovers. That's on me as a coach. I've got to do a better job to prepare them to be ready for those situations."

Top Performers

Orrville: Cam Kraft 13-18, 261 yards, 3 TDs; Parker Hostetler 21 rushes, 92 yards, TD; Travis Pumneo 8 rushes, 34 yards, TD; Jax Haley 6 catches, 145 yards, 2 TDs; Breylon McDuffie 2 catches, 72 yards, TD; Shane Troyer 2 fumble recoveries

Wooster: Julian Franklin 16 rushes, 281 yards, 2 TDs; Hayden Meese 3 rushes, 51 yards, TD, 3 catches, 31 yards; AJ Likowski 8-16, 65 yards, INT

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: 'It means everything': Orrville football snaps three-year losing streak to rival Wooster