Edison another tall task for Truckers

From one rival to another. After visiting Bellevue last week, the Norwalk football team stays on the road Friday with an even closer trip against another quality opponent. The Truckers (1-3) visit Edison (3-1) in the 39th meeting between the neighboring school districts. Kickoff between the two teams separated by seven miles is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Freedom Field in Milan. "We have a lot to prepare for," Norwalk head coach Keith Mora said of the Chargers. "They can do a lot of different things that challenge you, and we have to put together a very good week of practice to be ready for them." The Truckers are coming off a 19-0 loss that felt similar to their previous two losses. More times than not, holding a team to 19 points is enough to win or be in a position to win late. But that wasn't the case, as Norwalk again struggled on the offensive side of the football. "Defensively I thought we played really well for the most part," Mora said. "We needed to get their offense off the field a bit faster. We did a nice job of stopping them, but it was usually after they got a few first downs and us being on the field longer than we should have been." Bellevue ran 71 plays to Norwalk's 44. "Which is not good at all," Mora said. "We have a lot of two-way players, but they had a lot of fight in them on defense. Holding a team to 19 points is usually enough to win or be in the game a lot of times, but unfortunately for us, our offense is still sputtering a little bit right now." Norwalk had two other positives from the loss. The team did not commit a penalty, which was a drastic improvement from the first three games. And senior Tommy Vanderpool lived up to his SBC Lake first team specialist honors from 2024 in a big way with punts of 69 and 72 yards. He punted five times for 227 yards (45.4-yard average) in the loss. "He got a hold of them, that's for sure," Mora said of Vanderpool. "If we can rely on the kicking game, it's huge for us. We know he can kick a field goal if we need to, but we have to get him into range. "If you have a punting game that can flip the field for you, it's always putting the defense in an advantageous position," he added. "If he's not doing that, some of those Bellevue drives are more points if they didn't have to move the ball as much as they had to." The Chargers are coming off a 20-0 win last week at Johnstown Northridge. Prior to that, they suffered a 22-14 loss to Hopewell-Loudon (4-0), which was Edison's first home loss since Week 8 of the 2022 season. Running back Bryson Wittmer has totaled 360 yards and 8 TDs on 45 attempts in three games. Cayden Clere adds 176 yards and a TD on 28 attempts, while Ryder Kramb has 149 yards and a TD on 21 attempts. Quarterback Cole Leimeister is 34-of-57 passing for 435 yards with 5 TDs and 2 INTs. He also adds 122 yards on 30 rush attempts. Coltyn Meagrow has been his top target with 10 catches for 156 yards and a TD, while Andy Strecker has seven catches for 115 yards, and Blaise Garr adds 67 yards and a TD on seven catches. Kicker Alex Davidson is 15-for-15 on extra points and made a pair of field goals in last week's win at Northridge. "They do a lot of nice things in the run game, and they do a lot of things fundamentally right," Mora said of Edison. "They are just a well-coached team across the board. Their lines come off the ball hard, and we have to match that kind of physicality. If we don't, it's a recipe for a bad night." Defensively for the Chargers, Kramb has 35 tackles, three sacks, and a fumble recovery. Meagrow has 27 tackles, and Brody McFadden adds 26 tackles, two sacks, and a fumble recovery. Clere also has two sacks. For Norwalk, Brady Singer is 18-of-39 passing for 135 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. Carter Harp has caught 13 of those 18 completions for 123 yards. Colby Ferguson has 23 rushes for 54 yards and a TD, while AJ Weilnau also has 54 yards on 21 attempts. Gabe Bellamy has returned 10 kicks for 209 yards. Nico Helton paces Norwalk on defense with 34 tackles. Brady Case has 25 tackles with a fumble recovery, and Gavin Lepley has 20 tackles and has intercepted two passes and broken up three others. Harp adds 20 tackles, while Ayden Hudson-Brown and Weilnau each have 17 tackles, and Bellamy has 11 tackles with an interception. Edison leads the all-time series, which started in 1982, 22-16.