Norwalk enters Lake play off big win

NORWALK — The reward finally came. For the majority of the season, the Norwalk football team's defense had done enough to keep the team in games. Last week against Vermilion, the Truckers were doing more than their part to try and upset the Sailors on the defensive side of the ball. They had limited standout running back Evan Kuhns to 62 yards below his average and kept him out of the end zone after he scored 12 touchdowns in five games. But still, Norwalk trailed the one-loss Sailors with under five minutes left, 9-7, after the visitors took the lead on a field goal. After five mostly tough weeks, however, the Truckers finally caught a break. Senior Gabe Bellamy returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, and the defense turned away Vermilion one more time in the 14-9 win. Now, the Truckers (2-4) look to carry that momentum into Friday's 7 p.m. game vs. Tiffin Columbian (3-3, 1-0) in the SBC Lake Division opener at Contractors Stadium. Norwalk managed just 139 yards of total offense in earning the win over the Sailors, which vaulted it into the 12th and final playoff spot in Division III Region 10 this week. "The defense played another very good game," Norwalk head coach Keith Mora said. "We wanted to take (receiver) Brock Meyers out of the equation as much as possible by double-teaming him. The rest of our defense was keying on the running backs and tackling at the line of scrimmage to try and contain Kuhns as much as we could. "We figured if we could do that, we could focus the rest of our attention on the box," he added. "We played a lot more man defense than we typically do, and it worked out well for us. Kuhns still got good yards; you don't entirely stop him, but you just have to contain him as much as possible, and we were able to do that." Bellamy had scored one of the team's two touchdowns in a 17-14 overtime win at Toledo Start in Week 1 but had been battling an injury and had been mostly defense only. "Gabe is a tough kid, and if he can hit a hole, he does it pretty hard, and he's deceptively fast," Mora said. "We had three or four good blocks on that kick return that was able to spring him. He has good vision, saw the hole, and outran the rest of the kickoff team. He did a nice job there." Columbian enters with a .500 record, but two of its losses are to undefeated powers Medina Buckeye and defending state champion Columbus Watterson. The Tornadoes were also edged, 13-9, at Div. II Fremont Ross in the season opener. "The SBC Lake is still good, regardless of records," Mora said. "We play tough competition across the board each week, and Columbian is a good, well-coached team that plays hard." Columbian features an offense that has 167 rush attempts to 136 pass attempts but has double the yardage through the air. Quarterback Logan Gooding is 78-of-133 passing for 1,096 yards with 11 touchdowns and just one interception. His top two targets are Johnny Bremyer with 24 catches for 443 yards and 5 TDs and Dashawn Russell with 23 catches for 235 yards and 4 TDs. Daelan Brandeberry adds 14 catches for 297 yards with 2 TDs. On the ground, Mason Seitz has 235 yards and 3 TDs on 53 attempts, and Brock Siesel has 150 yards and 3 TDs on 42 attempts. "They have great size up front, and passing or running the ball, they can get after you in both ways," Mora said. "We have to make sure we're sound. "They are going to move a ton pre-snap and give you a lot of different looks, so it's important to be lined up correctly and that our coverage can stand up against all their movements before the snap." On defense, Neven Neuman has 42 tackles and four sacks. Jace Arias adds 47 tackles, two sacks, and an interception. Brock Siesel has 35 tackles, and Parker Nye adds 32 tackles with 1.5 sacks and an interception. AJ Weilnau leads the Norwalk rushing with 175 yards and a TD on 52 attempts. Gavin Lepley has 103 yards and a TD on 18 attempts. The run game also has gotten 59 yards and a TD from Colby Ferguson, 53 yards from Caiden Wilson, and 51 yards from Warner. Brady Singer is 24-of-51 passing for 189 yards with a touchdown and three INTs, and also adds 50 rushing yards. His top target is Carter Harp, with 13 catches for 123 yards, and Kaedyn Warner, who adds six catches for 37 yards. Nico Helton paces the defense with 39 tackles. Lepley has 32 tackles and 2 INTs, while Brady Case has 24.5 tackles and Weilnau has 21.5 tackles with a sack. "Offensively we have to take care of the football and put together more consistent drives, kind of like we had against Vermilion at times," Mora said. "But we need more to finish in the end zone. I think the kids see what we're capable of doing on offense when we do things the right way, but we have to make sure we're consistent and don't have those lapses and stay within what we do offensively."