The Norwalk football team will try to get to 2-0 tonight when they face another Warren County rival at Indianola. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and the non-district game will be streamed live on kniakrls.com (KNIA3). Pregame coverage begins at 6:30.
Both teams opened the season victorious last Friday night. The Warriors defeated Carlisle 35-7 while the Indians rallied past Urbandale 21-17, using a last-second goal-line stand to win the game.
Norwalk junior Eli Robbins and senior Dominic Tigner combined to score all five Warrior touchdowns. Robbins carried the ball 15 times for 171 yards, passed for 43 yards and had 47 receiving yards. Tigner rushed for 107 yards on 26 attempts. Defensively, Norwalk had three takeaways and held Carlisle to less than 100 yards rushing.
Norwalk coach Paul Patterson liked his team’s physical play up front on both sides of the ball against Carlisle, as well as the success of the running attack. In tonight’s matchup against Indianola, Patterson tells KNIA Sports that the Warriors must have a more efficient passing game from quarterbacks Robbins and James Hatlevig. Defensively, Patterson says that Norwalk must recognize formations, rally to the football and tackle well as they try to slow down running back Jake Pontier. The Indianola senior carried the ball 25 times for 141 yards and three TDs in Week 1.
“He’s got great vision, and then he is just aggressive, and he’s powerful,” Patterson said. “He doesn’t weigh a lot. He’s not a 210-pound bruiser, but he still runs with that same Mike Alstott fullback mentality where he’s getting after you. The quickest way for him to get around you is to go through you. He’ll make some good cuts and he’ll make people miss every once in a while, but for the most part he’s going to try to punish you when he runs. Those guys are hard to game plan for because you never know exactly how hard he runs until you see him for the first time.”
Norwalk and Indianola have alternated wins in their last six meetings. The Warriors won a hard-fought 21-14 decision in Norwalk last season.