The Indianola football team jumped all over Norwalk in a rivalry non-district contest at Indianola Stadium Friday evening, winning 28-3 as heard live on 94.3 KNIA. The Indians got off to the best start they could hope for, forcing the powerful Norwalk offense to punt on the first possession of the game, following that up with a 9-yard Jake Pontier touchdown, then forced another Norwalk punt and took advantage with an Asher Brueck to Rylan Hilton touchdown pass to lead 14-0 after the first quarter. The Warriors drove down the field but were forced to settle for a 36-yard field goal by Tyden Eng, but Indianola answered with an 8-minute 80-yard drive highlighted by Pontier’s second rushing touchdown and Indianola led 21-3 at the half.

Norwalk made a charge to start the second half but missed a field goal, and neither team found the endzone in the quarter, and the Indians slammed the door shut with a 32-yard pass from Brueck to Andrew DeWall in the fourth.

Indianola head coach Eric Kluver tells KNIA Sports this was a big test for his team after having to come from behind to win last week.

“Just an awesome game. We answered the call. The challenge all week was telling them we are a good football team, we have great football players in here, but we have to play for four quarters. The challenge to them was to come out and start the game strong, and that’s exactly what we did.”

Norwalk head coach Paul Patterson said he felt the team didn’t finish drives the way they needed to do to win.

“We had lots of drives tonight. We had one drive that was 19 plays, but we only got three points out of it. Our inability to finish drives offensively was tough, and we weren’t getting stops like we did a week ago on third down. So hats off to Indianola, they did a great job, they executed really well both offensively and defensively, and out physicaled us on both sides of the ball. That’s something that we need to make sure we learn and grow from.”

Pontier had 135 yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns, while Eli Robbins had 64 yards on 8 carries for the Warriors. Indianola is now 2-0 on the season and matches up with Pella next week, while Norwalk falls to 1-1 and will host Newton.