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Perkins running back Jermaine Kennedy breaks a tackle on his way to a 38-yard gain in the first quarter.

NORWALK-  The struggles for the Norwalk special teams continues, meanwhile the dominance of the Perkins Pirates at Whitney Field continues. It was more of the same Friday night in the 2005 home opener, as the Perkins Pirates cruised to a 38-6 non-conference win against the Truckers. With the win, Perkins moves to 2-1 overall, meanwhile the Truckers fell to 0-3.

With the lopsided win, Perkins has now outscored the Truckers 198-48 over the past four meetings at Whitney Field dating back to 1999.

“Our defense played really well and gave us good field position most of the night,” Perkins coach Dave Brausch said. “We were a little more consistent again and improved again from last week, and that is our goal. We want to improve each week in a new system and now the non-league stuff is over and it’s time to tackle the league games.”

The field position Brausch spoke of was helped by the aid of Norwalk penalties and a struggling punting game. After the second consecutive three and out to start the game by the Norwalk offense, punter Rusty Sternberg had the ball go off the side of his foot for a 16-yard punt to give the Pirates great field position at the Norwalk 31-yard line. The very first play, Brett Bird raced 28 yards to the 3, where running back Jermaine Kennedy started the scoring with a 1-yard run at the 4:53 mark of the opening quarter. The snap was botched, and an attempted throw to the end zone fell incomplete for a 6-0 Perkins lead.

Perkins then added two scores in the second quarter while the Norwalk offense continued to take a step backwards. Punting from their own 15, the Pirates again took advantage and got a return to the Norwalk 40. Seven plays later, quarterback Jason Hedberg, who last season was running all over Norwalk until he broke his ankle on the last play of the first half, kept the ball on an option keeper and scored untouched from 10 yards out at the 7:44 mark. The run for two points failed, but it was 12-0 Pirates.

Just before halftime, the Pirates finished off what turned out to be the best drive of the night by either team. Perkins put together a 14-play, 79-yard scoring drive, which included a 4th and 2 conversion at the Norwalk 12, that was capped off by another run from Hedberg, this time from five yards out, as he completely fooled all eleven Norwalk defenders on an option fake and jogged in for the score with just 14 seconds left in the half. The pass for two failed, but the Pirates were in control with an 18-0 lead that went on to get worse.

While the field position battle was lost, the Trucker offense managed just 41 yards of offense (12 rushing) in the first half, and two first downs.

“Early on we had some penalties that backed us up a little bit and that helped change the field position,” Norwalk coach Jeff Cole said. “We were battling that field position all night and we just couldn’t get it turned. But Perkins defense was very quick and blitzing us constantly. We had a lot of trouble with their blitzing scheme. I don’t think we had it solved but a couple times all night and we had some problems on offense the whole night. They were outnumbering us and they beat us up a little bit. But their quickness was a big factor.”

Kennedy and Hedberg continued their show in the third quarter, putting the game on ice in the process.

The senior quarterback found the junior on a 55-yard touchdown pass on a 3rd-and-8 play, and Hedberg then added a 22-yard touchdown run off of a 24-yard field thanks to Norwalk again punting out of their own end zone. Kennedy then bulled over three defenders on his way to a 57-yard touchdown with 9:58 left for a 38-0 lead. Norwalk’s lone score was then set up after a 61-yard run by sophomore Trent Ringle, as Josh Cook went in from two yards out, but the kick failed to wrap up the scoring.

Kennedy led the rushing attack with 13 attempts for 149 yards two touchdowns rushing, while adding the receiving score. Hedberg was next with 74 yards on eight attempts and two scores, while Brett Bird added 63 yards on 10 attempts.

“We’re not going to be a real fancy team,” Brausch said. “We run the option and we have it going a little bit and Jason did a real nice job on it. “Our rushing offense was solid and we got a three-headed monster back there tonight and that is what we want.”

For the Truckers, it was a listless offense most of the night except for Ringle's run that set up the touchdown. In all, it was 118 yards of offense and five first downs. The most alarming stat, however, came from the passing game. Kurtz finished the game 4-of-23 passing for 36 yards. Clay Duncan returned to catch three passes for 31 yards, while Ringle had 69 yards rushing on eight attempts.

For Norwalk, Cole said he is looking forward to the Northern Ohio League season.

"You play non-league, and when you go to your league that starts a new season," he said. "That is how were looking at it. It's a new season and we got this non-league portion out of the way, and we'll approach the NOL as a new season for us."