The Norwalk football team hopes to put Week 4 in the rearview mirror tonight when they host Winterset in a Class 4A, District 6 opener at 7:00 p.m. The Warriors are playing just their second home game of the season and will be sporting new uniforms on Senior Night. The game will be streamed live on kniakrls.com (KNIA3), with pregame coverage starting at 6:30.

Following an impressive 3-0 start to the season, Norwalk ran into a buzzsaw last Friday in Adel, falling behind 20-0 in the first quarter and losing to a talented ADM team 47-14. Winterset, meanwhile, is 2-2 overall. The Huskies opened the season with losses to unbeaten Creston and ADM, but have allowed just 11 points combined the last two weeks in wins over Carlisle and Atlantic.

With tougher games perhaps still down the road in district play, Norwalk coach Paul Patterson knows that his team needs a win tonight to regain some confidence, improve their RPI for later in the season and gain some early traction in District 6.

“Every district game is a must win… it’s a fact,” Patterson said. “And not only is it district play, but it’s the first district game so it’s extremely important.”

Patterson says that the Warrior offensive line must improve both mentally and physically this week to protect quarterback Aidan Harder from a pass rush and establish a ground game. He adds that the coaching staff has to make adjustments more quickly on the fly when opponents come out in completely different schemes than what they’ve previously shown.

Running back Hank Wilmes leads the Huskies with 585 yards rushing and six total touchdowns on the season, adding 122 yards receiving. Luke Linde has four interceptions and one fumble recovery for an opportunistic Winterset defense. Patterson says that running the ball and stopping the run will be big keys for Norwalk tonight, along with taking care of the football on offense and preventing the big play defensively.

Cross country teams at Griak Invitational

The Norwalk boys and girls cross country teams are competing at the annual Roy Griak Invitational today in Minneapolis. The high school boys championship race is set for a 1:30 p.m. start, followed by the girls race at 2:15.