For the second straight year, Norwalk and top-seeded Des Moines Hoover will meet in the semifinal round of the Class 3A Boys State Soccer Tournament. Both teams advanced with quarterfinal wins on Wednesday and will square off today at 10:00 a.m. inside Drake Stadium. The game will air live on 94.3 KNIA and kniakrls.com, with pregame coverage starting at 9:50.
Last year’s semifinal between the Warriors and Huskies will be hard to top. Delayed more than three hours by rain, the game was played on a wet field and featured dense fog during the second half. Jack Brown’s goal with 7:53 remaining provided the only score as Norwalk prevailed 1-0.
The fourth-seeded Warriors enter today’s rematch with a 12-8 record following Wednesday’s dominating 2-0 win over Marion. Hoover topped Indianola 2-1 and improved to 17-2. Norwalk players expect another dog fight and tell KNIA Sports that they must match Hoover’s energy level while staying mentally focused for 80 minutes.
Senior defender Caden Endres adds: “It was fun last year. They’re a very good team and they work hard. If we play like we did last year, I could see us winning (again) and going back to the championship.”
Today’s other 3A semifinal features No. 2 seed Dallas Center-Grimes vs. No. 6 seed Cedar Rapids Washington. The Class 3A championship game is set for Saturday at 10:00 a.m. at Mediacom Stadium in Des Moines. Norwalk is seeking the program’s 11th state title game appearance.
Softball wins 4-0, Baseball falls 15-3
The Norwalk softball team took down another highly-ranked opponent on Thursday night while the baseball team lost a non-conference game vs. Winterset.
The Class 4A top-ranked Warrior softball team recorded their fourth shutout of the season, improving to 7-0 with a 4-0 home win over 5A fifth-ranked Johnston. Norwalk has already defeated four top 10 teams from the state’s largest class.
Carly Brewer tossed six innings of two-hit ball against Johnston, striking out four, and Olivia Dougherty worked a perfect seventh inning of relief. Nyah Hulbert led the offense, going 2-for-3 with a solo homer and two runs scored. Brewer went 2-for-3 with a double and Grace Dehmer had two singles and one RBI.
The Norwalk baseball team saw their five-game winning streak come to an end, losing to Winterset 15-3. The Warriors totaled only three hits while committing seven errors defensively. The Huskies broke the game open with seven runs in the top of the seventh. Norwalk, now 5-4 overall, was led at the plate by Briley Purcell’s two doubles.
Both Norwalk squads return to Little Hawkeye Conference play tonight with games at Newton.