The Norwalk and Indianola football teams will renew their Warren County rivalry tonight in Norwalk, both teams looking to build off impressive season-opening wins last Friday.
The Warriors, who jumped to 2nd in this week’s BCMoore Class 4A rankings, put on an offensive showcase in their 52-32 Week 1 victory at Carlisle. The fifth-ranked Indians dominated with defense in a 31-0 home shutout of Urbandale. The area and conference rivals will kick things off at 7:00 p.m. tonight, with live coverage on kniakrls.com (KNIA3) as well as 94.3 KNIA. Pregame coverage begins at 6:30.
One week after claiming the War-Cat Trophy for the first time in four years, Norwalk faces another familiar foe in their only home game of the non-district schedule. The Warriors and Indians have alternated wins against each other the last five years, and Norwalk coach Paul Patterson is expecting another entertaining contest for the fans.
“We’re excited to be home and can’t wait to see our crowd in another rivalry [game], so we’re hoping we come out and we play well and give everybody a good show,” Patterson said.
The Warriors did just that in Week 1, starting with an 80-yard touchdown pass from Aidan Harder to Eli Robbins on the first play from scrimmage. Harder completed 16-of-21 passes for 398 yards and five touchdowns in his first varsity start, looking sharp on short and long throws alike. Robbins and Keilor Rodman both hauled in two TD passes and combined for 12 catches and 298 yards. Norwalk won the turnover battle 4-0, getting 10 tackles from Harrison Tripp and a late pick-six by Isaac Sutcliffe.
Indianola, meanwhile, held Urbandale to 33 yards of total offense, including minus-33 net rushing, and had 11 tackles for loss. Jake Pontier led the Indians’ ground attack with 23 carries for 127 yards and one TD. Jonce Hale caught a 54-yard touchdown pass from Vincent Anderson.
Coach Patterson says that his team will be facing a typical Indianola defense – one that is physical, aggressive, flies to the ball and tackles well. Patterson adds that a big key will be how well Norwalk’s offensive line can match up against the Indians’ smaller, quicker defensive front, which he expects to stunt and blitz far more often than Carlisle did last week. On the defensive side of the ball, Patterson says the Warriors must be sound in their gap integrity facing Indianola’s zone blocking schemes, take away the cutback lanes and tackle better than they did in Week 1. They must also stay disciplined and be ready for the play-action pass.
Two more keys, Patterson adds, will be winning the turnover battle and coming up with a big play or two on special teams.
Norwalk netters win four out of five; boys golf team places 13th
The Norwalk volleyball team finished 4-1 at Thursday’s ADM Invitational in Adel, winning their first nine sets before dropping a pair to the host Tigers. The Warrior boys golf team also competed, finishing 13th at the Waukee Northwest Invite held in Norwalk.
The Warrior volleyball team remains fifth in this week’s Class 4A state rankings. They picked up 2-0 wins vs. Gilbert, 4A sixth-ranked Nevada, Woodward-Granger and West Marshall to start the night. The Nevada scores were 21-16, 21-16 and the other matches were not close, including scores of 21-3, 21-7 against Woodward-Granger. Norwalk won the first set vs. 4A ninth-ranked ADM 21-10, then lost the next two 17-21, 12-15.
Norwalk coach John Fulton says that his team played great for most of the tournament, with improved serve receive passing leading to better offense overall. Fulton adds that the Warriors have let some best-of-three matches get away of late after leading 1-0. Norwalk hosts 2nd-ranked Indianola on Tuesday night in a top-five battle of last year’s regular season Little Hawkeye Conference co-champions.
The Norwalk boys golf team posted a score of 346 to place 13th in Thursday’s Waukee Northwest Invite at The Legacy Golf Club. Grady Sigrist led the Warriors with a round of 83, including a two-over 39 on the back nine. Ian Lux carded an 87 while Tillman Papcun and Lane Juergens both shot 88. Waukee Northwest won the team title with a 300.