A game that went down to the final minute after an agonizingly slow start saw the Indianola football team survive a late touchdown by Norwalk to win 27-25 on the road as heard live on 94.3 KNIA. The Indians scored first after taking advantage of a Norwalk miscue on a punt to lead 7-0, when neither team could do much more offensively before the Warriors scored on the final play of the first half to go into the break tied at 7. It was nothing but big play after big player after halftime for both squads however, with each team scoring three touchdowns.
The Warriors struck first on a 94 yard touchdown pass as part of a 99 yard drive to take a 13-7 lead in the third quarter, before senior quarterback CJ Kuehl led a scoring drive that ended with him scoring on a 13 yard touchdown scramble to give the Indians the lead right back at 14-13 heading into the fourth. Norwalk would again take the lead, this time on an 11 yard pass from quarterback Max Juergens to take a 19-14 lead after a failed two-point conversion. The Indians answered right back with a 57-yard pass from Kuehl to Mark Pepper to take a 20-19 lead. Norwalk was deep inside their own territory and failed to convert a fake punt play, where the Indians took advantage with a Kael Kolarik 1-yard touchdown rush to give the Indians at 27-19 lead with less than five minutes remaining.
Juergens then led a drive to the Indianola 16, and threw a touchdown on a 4th and 13 with 1:19 left, putting the game within two points, but the ensuing two-point conversion was just outside of the outstretched hands of the receiver, and the onside kick was not converted allowing the Indians to run out the clock and pick up the win. Head coach Eric Kluver said he was happy to pick up a win in the wild contest, and happy to see his guys show up when they needed to in the second half.
“As far as my team goes, they are excited. They are excited for the big win. This is a strong county rivalry that my guys put a lot of stock into, so i’m happy they got the win.”
Norwalk was led by Juergens who had a monster game, throwing for 294 yards and four touchdowns, while rushing for an additional 88 yards for 382 yards of total offense, while receiver Chase Mckinney had 179 yards and a touchdown, and Ethan Carlson catching three touchdowns. CJ Kuehl led the Indians with 135 yards passing, while having a passing touchdown, rushing touchdown, and recovered a fumble and intercepted a ball defensively. Indianola improves to 1-1 and is scheduled to play DM Lincoln, with Norwalk falling to 0-2 and will host Perry.