Norwalk looks to avoid repeat at North

NORWALK — In this instance, the hope is it won't be déjà vu all over again. Last season, the Norwalk High School football team stopped a 15-game losing streak with a convincing 27-0 win over Toledo Start in the 2023 season opener. The next week, the Truckers hosted an Eastlake North team coming off a narrow 22-14 loss to Ashtabula Lakeside. North then promptly came to Contractors Stadium and controlled from start to finish in a 35-0 win. It was one of just three wins for Division II North in 2023, and by far its biggest margin of victory. For a Norwalk team that was in playoff contention in Week 10, it was a tough pill to swallow. This week, the script is nearly identical. "This feels very much like last year," Norwalk head coach Keith Mora said. Last week, the Truckers again opened the regular season with a strong win at Toledo Start. They steadily pulled away for a 26-7 victory. And also for a second straight year, Ashtabula Lakeside scored the game-winning touchdown with just over a minute left to hand North a 21-14 loss. Now, Norwalk will make the 75-minute drive to Lake County to face the Rangers in a repeat situation for both teams. "The first thing I told the kids is to learn from previous mistakes," Mora said. "Don't come in thinking 1-0 vs 0-1 will be some advantage. Don't fall into that mistake if you played in that game last year. "We have to make sure we take this week very seriously," he added. "North is a good team from a tough conference." The Rangers will look to establish their running game early and often. North plays in a traditional, old-school style of an offense with I-formations and tight ends as extra blockers. In their loss to Lakeside, the Rangers; Drake Martinez ran for 168 yards on 23 carries with a touchdown. "We have to make them turn the page and find a way to get them off their top two or three run plays, and make them uncomfortable with their top two or three pass plays," Mora said of the Rangers. "If we start doing that, then things will probably be working in our favor." Defensively, North has slightly altered its defense from what Norwalk saw in 2023. The Rangers have gone away from a 3-3 front and were using more of a 4-2 look last week that features heavy blitzing and pressure. Despite the loss, North forced three turnovers — two interceptions and a fumble — last week. That means a Norwalk offensive line that broke in four new starters a week ago will be busy. "We will have to look at our pass protection and try to create ways to keep (quarterback) Brayden (Viock) a little more free so he can get the ball downfield to our receivers," Mora said. "We have a nice group of receivers led by Ben (Rothhaar), and we have to make sure we give those guys an opportunity. That will need to start with our offensive line and pass protection. If we can do those things, that really helps us. They definitely like to bring some pressure and play at the line of scrimmage." In the win over Start, the Truckers and Spartans played a scoreless first quarter. From there, Norwalk scored four of the five touchdowns over the final three quarters of the game. The Truckers had not won back-to-back season openers since the 2013-14 seasons. Mora said the two key parts to the victory that stood out was his team establishing the run game, and the defense buying the offense time to get its footing. Junior Nico Helton ran 32 times for 149 yards and scored three of the four TDs in the win. Viock was 9-of-18 passing for 115 yards and a TD, with Rothhaar catching three passes for 49 yards. "The establishment of Nico Helton in the backfield was big for us," Mora said. "A lot of people don't have him on the radar with the production that we had in the running game in the previous two years with Jarren (McLendon) and others. "And with four of our five offensive line starters graduating, there were probably a lot of questions for how that would look," he added. "I was proud and happy for what I saw out of our guys. It's going to be a constant progression. They have to fall in love with this process every day. We definitely took a step forward from the Shelby scrimmage (Aug. 16) to last week." Defensively, the Truckers got eight tackles from Rothhaar, six and an interception from Carter Harp, and Brady Case added four tackles. "Our defense played well while our offense had to figure it out early on," Mora said. "We struggled to get our feet underneath us in the first quarter, and our defense did a great job not giving up points. "The offense didn't have to press harder to get it going because of that. It gave them a chance to get going. Our defense played with a lot of pride, and kind of flew all over the field for us."