One week after a disappointing performance at ADM, the Norwalk football team bounced back in a big way on Senior Night, opening district play Friday with a 37-17 victory over Winterset. The game was streamed live on KNIA3.
The Warriors outscored the Huskies 27-7 over the last two and a half quarters, using big plays in all three facets of the game to improve to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in Class 4A, District 6. Winterset dropped to 2-3.
Norwalk coach Paul Patterson tells KNIA-KRLS Sports that his players were issued many challenges since last week’s 47-14 road loss, and he was proud of the improvements he watched on Friday.
“I thought our kids responded extremely well, especially defensively,” he said. “Stepping up and stopping the run, timely turnovers, big stops – get-off-the-field stops giving the ball back to the offense. We sputtered a little bit here and there but we were able to run [the football]. We talked about it for five weeks – being able to run the ball – and we were able to do that tonight.”
The Warriors netted 138 rushing yards on 29 carries, showcasing a nice mix of Dominic Tigner between the tackles and Isaac Sutcliffe to the outside. Tigner gained 74 yards on 13 carries and Sutcliffe ran it four times for 53 yards while catching three passes for 33. Senior quarterback Aidan Harder was intercepted on the third play of the game, but finished 19-of-29 for 207 yards passing and two TDs. Keilor Rodman and Eli Robbins each caught a scoring pass and combined for 13 receptions and 165 yards.
Defensively, Kolton Borcherding-Johnson led Norwalk with five tackles and Caleb Ochanpaugh and Harrison Tripp had interceptions. There were also big plays on special teams. With the score tied 3-3, Tyden Eng’s successful onside kick set up a 42-yard Warrior scoring drive. Late in the first half, a low snap led to Will Clark chasing down Winterset punter Luke Linde at the 3-yard line. Tigner scored on the next play, pushing Norwalk’s halftime lead to 23-10.
The Huskies drove 79 yards and opened the third quarter with a 24-yard TD pass from Linde to Kade White, but it was all Warriors the rest of the way. Norwalk will be back on the road next Friday at Dallas Center-Grimes.
Cross country & golf recap
Twenty Norwalk boys and girls cross country runners competed at the Roy Griak Invitational near Minneapolis on Friday. Meanwhile, the Warrior boys golfers shot a season-best score at Willow Creek in a dual loss to Dallas Center-Grimes.
Hosted by the University of Minnesota, the Griak Invitational draws teams from all over the Midwest for competition at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Norwalk finished 17th out of 40 teams in the Championship Boys 5000-meter run. The girls finished 30th out of 37 squads in the Maroon Girls division.
Senior Noah Buhrow paced the Warrior boys by placing 56th out of 408 runners with a time of 16:49. Tony Anania, Teegan Kralik, Henry Groos and Grant Wallace all finished within 56 seconds of Buhrow, led by Anania in 87th.
The Norwalk girls were led by Pearl Brown in 99th place out of 311 runners with a time of 22:51. Maya Butler finished 115th in 23:02 while Brooke Seeley, Anita Scholten and Lhotse Samuelson each finished in the top 200.
The Norwalk boys golf team competed in a rare 18-hole dual meet on Friday, losing to DC-G 275-294 as the Mustangs established a new school record. The Warriors’ season-best 294 included a 71 by Ian Lux and Grady Sigrist’s 72. Mason Johnson shot a 74 and Owen Lux added a 77.