Under pressure from the Shelby defense in the first quarter, QB Tyson Ringle looks downfield for a receiver in Norwalk's 42-14 loss vs. Shelby.

 

NORWALK - Injuries are no excuse when it comes to winning and losing football games.

But in the case of the Norwalk Truckers, its starting to get pretty close after a 42-14 loss to Shelby Friday night at Warren Whitney Field.

By halftime of the fifth Trucker loss to open the season, all Norwalk captains were officially out of commission.

Ouch.

Norwalk entered the season with a 38-man roster grades 10-12, but were down to roughly 24 in uniform by the time the Whippets had finished another dismantling of the Truckers, a team they've long dominated over the past century.

Shelby committed nine fumbles and lost four of them and numerous other mistakes, but depth has caught up with a Norwalk team that has started 0-5 for the fifth time in the past seven seasons, which isn't exactly the right start to the season for a program looking to snap three straight decades without a winning season.

Meanwhile, the Whippets scored twice in each of the first two quarters to take a 28-0 halftime lead, then added a fourth quarter touchdown to make it 35-0 entering the final 12 minutes.

The Truckers then got back-to-back scores, both short rushing touchdowns from sophomore quarterback Tyson Ringle that covered eight and six yards each to trip the margin to 35-14.

But then summing up the night and season to date perfectly, after Ringle's second score in the final minute, the Whippets backups got a kickoff return to close out the scoring.

Since the 1989 season over the past 20 meetings, Norwalk fell to 3-17 against the Whippets and it will only get tougher next week with Belleuve (4-1, 2-0) in town for homecoming. The Truckers have just two victories (2002, 2007) against the Redmen over the past 27 meetings.