The Norwalk Warriors improved to 2-0 on the gridiron Friday night with a dominating 45-0 non-district win over Des Moines Lincoln.
Ranked sixth in Class 4A by BC Moore, Norwalk took advantage of some short fields and scored twice in the opening six minutes, led 35-0 at halftime and cruised to victory in their home opener. The 35-point continuous clock was in effect for the final 28:42 of the game, which was streamed live on KNIA3 via kniakrls.com.
Norwalk senior quarterback Landon Hochstein had another solid performance in Week 2, passing for 208 yards and two touchdowns and also scoring on two short TD runs. He completed 13-of-20 attempts and was intercepted twice.
Sophomore running back Dominic Tigner scored on first-half runs of 19 and 17 yards and finished with 46 yards on just four carries. Skyler Olson was the team’s top receiver with five catches for 115 yards, including a 27-yard TD. Dillon Ranck hauled in a first-quarter touchdown catch of 17 yards and totaled four receptions for 55 yards.
Defensively, the Warriors allowed Lincoln just one substantial drive, which was stopped on downs inside the 10-yard line. Will Clark led the team in tackles for the second straight week with nine and also grabbed an interception. Kaden Tomkins recovered a fumble for his second takeaway of the season.
Senior kicker Gabe Johnson also had a big night, converting all six of his PAT kicks and drilling a 31-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
Norwalk did have two touchdowns called back due to penalties, but head coach Paul Patterson was pleased overall by his team’s focus and effort on both sides of the ball.
“I think the biggest thing for me is the fact that we continued to take care of business,” he said. “We didn’t relax when it came time to do the little things, and I think that was big. Obviously our penalties – we’ve got to clean those up – and do a much better job, like last week, of taking care of the football. But I thought from start to finish we did a fantastic job staying engaged and making sure that we came out and put some points on the board in the second half even though we were up.”
Patterson says the players and coaches will enjoy Friday’s win, watch some film Saturday and then take a look at next Friday when top-ranked and defending 4A state champion Lewis Central comes to Norwalk for a big-time matchup at 7:30 p.m.
“Next Friday is the reason why we sign up and play football,” Patterson said. “Those games are the ones that you want to be a part of, and… you really get up and excited about somebody like that coming to town because you get a chance to play the best.”
Lewis Central won last year’s game vs. Norwalk by a final of 31-3 in Council Bluffs.