Norwalk quarterback Landon Hochstein threw four touchdown passes and ran for two TDs in the first half alone Friday night as the Class 4A ninth-ranked Warriors celebrated Homecoming with a 53-20 win over Boone. The game was streamed live on kniakrls.com (KNIA3) as well as the Norwalk Warrior Productions YouTube channel.
Hochstein’s 80-yard scoring completion to Dillon Ranck on the first play from scrimmage set the stage for an explosive first half by both offenses. The Warriors led 22-14 after one quarter and 46-20 at halftime, improving to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in District 5.
Boone dropped to 0-5 but had its best offensive showing of the year by far behind a 250-yard rushing performance from Landon Davis. The Toreadors scrapped their spread attack for a more traditional power rushing scheme and Davis thrived. His 88-yard TD scamper made the score 39-20 late in the first half.
Norwalk’s explosive offense was simply too much for Boone as Hochstein completed 14-of-19 passes for 282 yards and also gained 88 yards on the ground. Hochstein’s touchdown passes covered 80 and 7 yards to Dillon Ranck and 47 and 26 yards to Braeden Carlson. He added first-quarter TD runs of 41 and 20 yards and Warrior running back Dominic Tigner capped the scoring with a late one-yard run. Carlson and Ranck combined for 13 receptions and 238 yards.
Norwalk coach Paul Patterson was happy to finish Homecoming week with a win and start district play 1-0.
“Ultimately… we are in second season, and you can’t be better than 1-0 in the second season after the first game, and that’s what we are,” Patterson said. “One of the worst nightmares for a football coach is Homecoming week and we’re done and came away with a win at home, so that was huge for us.”
Norwalk linebacker DJ Harris finished with 7.5 tackles Friday while Will Clark and Maddux Borcherding-Johnson both had five tackles and combined for three sacks. Borcherding-Johnson was crowned Homecoming king on Thursday night.
The Warriors will now prepare for a big game at Indianola next Friday. Both teams are 4-1 overall and 1-0 in District 5. Norwalk won last year’s matchup 45-30.
“Big week for us, but the first thing we’re going to do is enjoy the heck out of this,” Patterson said of Friday’s win. “We’ll get ready for Indianola come Monday and we’ll see what happens.
“Last year that Indianola game was our best football game as far as (how) we played, and we’re hoping that between now and next Thursday we can get ourselves in a position to get ready to play a really good football game again next Friday.”
Indianola won its district opener at Perry 49-0.