The game started in one place and ended at another Friday evening when the #4 in Class 4A Norwalk football team defeated Des Moines Lincoln 35-14, as aired on KNIA3. The Railsplitters were the hosts in the first ever meeting between the programs, and was also their first home game in over a year due to their season being cut short last year. With 5:21 to go in the third quarter and Norwalk leading 28-14, the field lights at Hutchens Metro Stadium lost power, and the field was shrouded in darkness before many fans illuminated their cell phone flashlights. Officials could not get the lights back on in a timely manner.

Power outage at Des Moines Lincoln. Craziest thing @clarson5 and I have seen during a live broadcast. Everyone's flashlights came out instantly. Norwalk leads Lincoln 28-14 in the third. #iahsfb pic.twitter.com/zZQYmWzPlY

— Jon Mohwinkle (@therealjmoh79) September 4, 2021

After discussions with school and game officials, they decided to play the remainder of the game at Norwalk. Around an hour later, the game resumed eight miles to the south on Mineart Field.

Norwalk started the game firing on all cylinders in the first quarter, with touchdown receptions by Braedon Carlson and Cade Campbell. Toward the end of the period three straight snaps resulted in interceptions, with the third being returned to the house by Norwalk’s Ky Pearson.

Two rushing touchdowns by Lincoln’s Josh Jenkins got the game to within one score at the half.

The third quarter started with quarterback Landon Hochstein capping off the opening drive with a three-yard touchdown rush. The power outage occurred at the end of the ensuing drive by Lincoln.

The Norwalk portion of the game began with a Lincoln punt on 4th and 41. Another Hochstein rushing touchdown on the ensuing drive would conclude the scoring, and the teams ran out the rest of the clock. Head Coach Paul Patterson says all options were discussed before a decision was made on the fate of the game.

“All options were being explored. The first issue that we had was not knowing what the cause of the power outage was. So not knowing what the cause was, how can you fix it? That’s where things started to get tough. And then, Des Moines Public has their transportation center downtown. So how are they going to get people to Norwalk? There were lots of scenarios being thrown around, and finally, Carlos, our transportation director said ‘Here’s the deal. Lincoln players will get on the cheerleader bus. The cheerleaders will just hang out, we’ll send another bus to pick them up.’ Then we got on our buses and came home. The three buses that went, two of them came back with Norwalk people, one came back with Lincoln, and here we are.”

Landon Hochstein had two rushing and two passing touchdowns to lead the way offensively for Norwalk. The Warriors move to 2-0 on the season, and return to action next week at Council Bluffs Lewis Central.