The KNIA Area Game of the Week debuted with a Warren County battle as Norwalk made the short trip to Carlisle for Week 1 action. Despite a promising start, Norwalk fell behind early and could not sustain much second half momentum in a 45-14 Carlisle victory, a game that aired on KNIA3.
Two long Wildcat touchdowns gave Carlisle a 14-0 lead early. Following a fumbled kickoff return recovered by Carlisle, the Norwalk defense held strong and forced a 35-yard field goal to give Carlisle a 17-0 lead after the opening stanza. A 65-yard option pitch by Carlisle’s Nic Goodgue gave the Wildcats a 24-0 lead, and a blocked Norwalk punt was scooped up and returned by a Wildcat rusher to make the score 31-0 in the second. The Wildcats missed a 24-yard field goal shortly before the half to keep the same score at halftime.
The Warriors struck first in the second half courtesy of a 37-yard touchdown pass from Max Juergens to Ethan Carlson to make it 31-7. Another pair of Carlisle touchdowns as well as a Juergens two-yard keeper closed the game with the 45-14 final. Warriors Head Coach Paul Patterson says that while his team faced adversity in the first half, he saw a lot of growth from a relatively new-look team in the second half.
“We couldn’t get anything going, any consistency or continuity on the offensive end. The issue then became a challenge at halftime. How are we going to come out and handle the second half? I thought we rose to that challenge, and I thought we played much much better in the second half. We have seven new starters on offense as far as the various positions, even though Max played last year, but he was a receiver. So him coming out at quarterback made a difference, four offensive linemen that are new. And then defensively, we have nine new starters. All of that makes a huge difference, so then after that first half, I thought we did much better in the second half. It was 14-14 if you’re going just based on score. So I thought we settled in, I thought we fought a little bit better, and I thought we executed better offensively and defensively.”
The Warriors were plagued by four turnovers in the game, with three resulting in Carlisle scores. Max Juergens began his stint at quarterback with a passing touchdown, a rushing touchdown, and an interception. Following a two-year stay in Norwalk, the WarCat Trophy will reside in Carlisle for at least the next year. Norwalk begins its season 0-1, and hosts Indianola in Week 2. That game will air on 94.3 KNIA.