The Norwalk football team suffered a heartbreaking Senior Night defeat on Friday, falling to ADM 35-34 in overtime. The game was streamed live on kniakrls.com (KNIA3).

The Warriors led 28-10 after three quarters, but the Class 4A fourth-ranked Tigers managed to score two touchdowns, a critical two-point conversion and a last-second game-tying field goal in the final 10:25 of regulation. 

ADM had the first possession of OT and scored on Jon Hatchitt’s six-yard run. Colby Simons’ PAT kick made it 35-28. Norwalk countered with a 10-yard TD pass from James Hatlevig to a wide-open Luke Brewer, then opted to go for the two-point conversion to win the game. The PAT pass fell incomplete and ADM celebrated the one-point win, improving to 3-1. The Warriors’ third straight loss dropped them to 1-3 overall.

Norwalk coach Paul Patterson tells KNIA/KRLS Sports that the team must build on Friday’s many positives as they move into district play. Patterson says that ADM simply made more plays on offense and defense in the fourth quarter. He adds that the Warriors must figure out how to land the knockout punch when the opportunity presents itself again.

“The hard part is trying to convince high school kids that there’s a whole heck of a lot more positive coming out of this game than the final score,” Patterson said. “But again, we’re 1-3 so that makes it really tough to convince them that that’s the case, especially immediately after the game. Lots of positives.”

The Warriors dominated the second and third quarters after falling behind 7-0 early. Dominic Tigner scored on touchdown runs of 1 and 11 yards and set up another first-half score with 48 yards on a screen pass. Hatlevig, who sparked the offense with a 68-yard completion to Brewer, connected with Eli Robbins on a pair of TD passes.

ADM quarterback Hudson Shull ran for two scores and passed for another in regulation. The Tigers’ desperation final drive included a pass interference penalty on third and 30 and a first-down completion that was tipped from one receiver to another. Simons sent the game to overtime with a 30-yard field goal as time expired.

Norwalk opens the Class 4A, District 6 schedule at Winterset next Friday at 7:00 p.m.