Norwalk campers beat the heat

NORWALK — You can't control the weather. But one thing fourth-year Norwalk High School football coach Keith Mora could control was the calendar. The Truckers hosted their annual youth camp this week, which wrapped up after three days on Wednesday. The camp drew 56 participants in grades 3-8 and was held less than two weeks after the most recent school year ended. "It's nice to get this as close to the end of the school year as possible with potential summer vacations and things like that," Mora said. "It's easier to get registration taken care of while the kids are still in school mode. "If we do it in July, people are in summer mode and not thinking about checking school websites for registration and how to sign up." The temperatures rose significantly this week, as did the humidity in the air. Huron County was under a heat advisory later in the day on Wednesday, when the camp finished. Mora said with the camp being held from 8 to 10 a.m., the peak of the heat was mostly avoided. "We were ending when the heat was starting to build, but (Wednesday) wasn't too bad because there was a breeze and some clouds," he said. "Tuesday was a bit rough, and we did start to see it a little bit where it affected some of the kids. "It wasn't so much on the first day, but as the days and heat build, we did see some of the younger kids start to wear out and be done by the end of it." But overall, Mora said when the kids were out there just running around and playing with their friends, the conditions weren't on their minds. "It was a pretty wide range of kids just having fun," he said. "They did a nice job not letting the heat impact them all that much." Mora said the youth camp also serves as the unofficial start to the summer workout schedule. The winter and spring are mostly conditioning and weight lifting, but after youth camp, the schedule ramps up for the 2026 season. "It's almost like a calendar turning point where youth camp ends, and now it's time to gear up for preseason training," he said. "Not only that, but it's time to turn our attention towards the regular season and the remainder of the summer." The Truckers will use three of their camp days this month on June 25 and June 29-30. Next month, they use camp days around four 7-on-7 passing scrimmages in July. Norwalk will visit Elyria in a passing scrimmage on July 1 and July 8 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. They also host Willard, Elyria Catholic, and Cloverleaf on July 15. The Truckers then entertain Margaretta along with St. Paul on July 22. "We will do some passing scrimmages, but we're not a big passing team in our Wing-T offense," Mora said. "We don't need a bunch of time spent in that setting, but it is good for our defense to get out there and see various passing routes and match up against different things." Fall practice begins statewide on Aug. 1. New this year, the Truckers will host Division I Lorain — the ninth-largest school in the state — at 11 a.m. on Aug. 8 in their first scrimmage. The Titans replace Clear Fork on the scrimmage schedule. Norwalk will again travel to Shelby to face the Whippets in the final scrimmage on Aug. 14. The two programs have met in some capacity for over 100 years.