Norwalk ends Lake losing streak

NORWALK — The streak is over. Trailing by 14 at halftime and 28-21 in the fourth quarter, Norwalk rallied for a 31-28 win over visiting Sandusky on a walk-off field goal by Tommy Vanderpool on Friday at Contractors Stadium. With the win, Norwalk improved to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in the Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division. The win snapped a 21-game losing streak in the league, which dated back to a Sept. 25, 2020 win over Clyde. "We continued to show a lot of resolve throughout the entire night," Norwalk head coach Keith Mora said. "They get into halftime down by two scores, and no one's flinching, and no one's hanging their heads. They just kept battling, and we knew we had to put together a good drive and then start to kind of dig our way back in defense. "We don't have to stop them every time, but our defense played phenomenally in the second half, and our offense was consistent," he added. "So just hats off to our kids. Our seniors battled the entire night, and this is a great, great overall win." Sandusky opened the game with a strong scoring drive. A 28-yard pass from Dale Johnson to Terrell Ruiz set the tone. On the next play, Daviyon Jackson made a 31-yard sprint to the end zone to put the Blue Streaks up 7-0 just 1:21 into the game. Norwalk had a response, though, and established its run game with the backfield of AJ Weilnau and Gabe Bellamy. Both backs bulled their way down the field before Bellamy found a hole on the left side and dashed in for the 27-yard touchdown. On the next drive for the Blue Streaks, Johnson hit Jackson for a 36-yard pass to spark the drive. Jackson capped off the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run to put them back up 14-7. The Truckers went back to work on offense and pounded the football again out of the Wing-T. Weilnau plowed up the middle for 24 yards to get them across midfield. Bellamy found an open lane for a 28-yard touchdown to tie the game with 10:45 left in the first half. The Blue Streaks (1-8, 0-4) were led downfield again by Johnson and company. A 41-yard pass from Johnson to Ruiz put them deep into Trucker territory. On the following play it was Jackson again for his third touchdown of the night from 31 yards out. Sandusky was up 21-14 with just 6:19 left in the half. On the ensuing drive, the Truckers had a miscue in the backfield and fumbled on their own side of the field. Norwalk gifted Sandusky a short field, and the Blue Streaks took advantage. A fourth-and-10 conversion by Sandusky gave way for Johnson to connect with Ruiz on the four-yard touchdown to put them up 28-14 at halftime. The Truckers weren't ready to go away, though. A scrappy 28-yard run by Bellamy got them deep into Sandusky territory. Weilnau — who rushed for 196 yards in the game — willed his way into the end zone to cut the lead in half and get Norwalk within 28-21 with 4:16 left in the third. Sandusky looked to put Norwalk away, but ultimately stalled on the Trucker 35. The Blue Streaks faced a fourth-and-2 before a false start forced them to punt. Norwalk's Ayden Hudson-Brown had some spark left for the Truckers. A 33-yard run propelled them into scoring position. Weilnau punched it in for the one-yard score to tie the game 28-28 with 6:27 left in the game. "AJ has been doing a lot in the last few games," Mora said. "He's been one of our leading guys, but tonight, really kind of a breakout night, and we felt good about really two or three plays with him. "We knew we wanted to attack from the inside out, so that's where it started. We didn't really have to turn the page a whole lot. We did a few times with our jet sweep, but we knew inside that he would be able to give us something." After the game-tying TD, the Truckers' defense stood tall and created a three-and-out to get the ball back. A slow burn by the Norwalk run game ultimately drained the clock and put them in field goal range for the reliable Tommy Vanderpool. The senior, who kicked a game-winning field goal in overtime at Toledo Start in the season opener, had also made a 50-yard field goal last week at Perkins. This time, Vanderpool came on for a 20-yard field goal with one second left from the 2. He drilled it from extra-point range to give the Truckers the walk-off win. "We're trying to establish something that when people think about Norwalk football, they think about downhill Wing-T football and a physical defense that doesn't give up a lot of points," Mora said. "Just a team that likes to run the ball and get after it. "You should have heard the kids in the locker room tonight and how excited they were about the fact that we had 370 yards rushing and just established ourselves in the run game," he added. " Physically, it changes the game when you can run the ball like that on an opponent. It starts to wear them down." Also for Norwalk, Bellamy ran 11 times for 113 yards. For Sandusky, Johnson threw for 289 yards and the touchdown, with Ruiz catching eight passes for 154 yards. Jackson ran 12 times for 84 yards and three touchdowns. Mora was also appreciative of the big crowd in Friday's home finale. "The stands were filled in pretty well tonight, and that's just a testament to our community and loving football in Norwalk," he said. "Norwalk is a football community, and it's exciting that our communities are rallying around us and not giving up on us either, because our kids haven't." The Truckers close out the season at Clyde next week, while the Blue Streaks host Port Clinton.