The Norwalk football team was plagued by six turnovers Friday night in a frustrating 17-7 loss at Dallas Center-Grimes heard live on KNIA3.

Held without a first down until their fifth offensive series, the Class 4A 8th-ranked Warriors eventually outgained the Mustangs 282-161 in total yardage but could not overcome a minus-6 in the turnover department. DC-G safety Tate Perrin snagged three of the Mustangs’ four interceptions on the night – giving him eight on the season – and running back Eli Carpenter carried the ball 35 times for 143 yards and two touchdowns.

Carpenter’s three-yard score with 4:47 remaining put DC-G up by 10. The Warriors answered with a nice drive of their own that ended with a fumble at the 9-yard line. The Mustangs, now 3-3 overall, improved to 2-0 in Class 4A, District 6. Norwalk dropped to 4-2 and 1-1, respectively.

Warriors’ coach Paul Patterson shouldered much of the blame for the loss, telling KNIA-KRLS Sports that he and the coaching staff need to do a better job of making in-game adjustments and putting their players in a position to exploit their talents and make plays.

“Taking care of the football – obviously that’s a big factor – but we also have to put our kids in a better position,” Patterson said. “We watch film and we think (our opponent is) going to do ‘X’, and then we show up and they’re doing ‘Y’. That’s four weeks in a row, and it’s no longer something that we can use as an excuse… We’ve got to be able to come up with an answer to that and tonight we were unable to do that, and that’s on my shoulders and that’s something that I’ve got to get better at.”

Remarkably, Norwalk’s defense allowed just three points off the Mustangs’ six takeaways – a go-ahead 32-yard field goal with 2:02 left in the third. Kolton Borcherding-Johnson led the Warriors with seven tackles, Harrison Tripp had 6.5 tackles and Will Clark had two sacks among three tackles for loss.

Norwalk’s only scoring drive was a 76-yard series late in the first half capped by Aidan Harder’s 14-yard TD pass to Brady Schmitz. DC-G employed a deep safety – often two deep safeties – to take away the deep ball and tackled well following Harder’s numerous short completions as well as against the run. Harder, who is hobbled by a sore leg, completed 20-of-37 attempts for 204 yards. Tim Koerselman was the team’s top receiver with six catches for 62 yards.

The Warriors will look to bounce back next Friday on Homecoming night when they host Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson.