Truckers can't quite pull off rally from 21-0 deficit in loss to Flashes.

 

WILLARD- It is safe to say nobody envisioned an ending to the 2008 season like the one Norwalk went through Friday night at Flashes Field in Willard.

Entering the game at 0-9 overall and facing a Willard team that had fared just one game better at 1-8, the hope was the Truckers could steal one to avoid the proverbial 'goose egg' for the season but as has been the case all season long, a 21-0 hole proved to be too steep a climb for the Truckers in finishing to an 0-10 record.

While the Norwalk program has gained public notoriety for its streak of losing seasons, now at 31 straight years, few times has it reached the point of winless. In fact, it is just the fourth winless season for the Truckers since 1918 and only the second during the losing season streak (1943, 1967, 1990, 2008).

Friday night's loss to the Flashes also left eerily similar results to the last winless team of 1990. In that season 18 years ago, the Truckers opened the season at home with a 1-point loss to Edison and traveled to Willard in Week 10 with an 0-9 record. The exact same situation became this season's fate for the 2008 Truckers as well.

While a rash of injuries played a huge role in the season's outcome, the team showed a significant amount of fight in coming back from the three-touchdown halftime deficit at Willard.

Willard opened the scoring with a short field of 37 yards after the Truckers had the auspicious start by fumbling away the first play of the game. The Flashes then covered that distance in seven plays with Matt Hamons scoring on a six-yard run with 9:31 left in the opening quarter and then added a second touchdown with an impressive 13-play, 70-yard drive that was finished off by a 10-yard run from Hamons with 34 seconds left in the first quarter for a 14-0 lead.

Flashes QB Brandon Cochran then found five different receivers on Willard's next drive, with Curtis Baker finishing it off with an 11-yard touchdown catch for the 21-0 halftime lead. Cody Frasure added all four extra points in the game for Willard.

Trucker junior Kyle Lieber, who finished with 129 yards rushing on 27 attempts, then got Norwalk going with a pair of touchdowns, one in the third quarter and another with 11:17 left in the game that made it a one-possession game at 21-13 with plenty of time left to work with.

But what had been the team's early undoing proved fatal, as the defense forced a Willard punt on the ensuing series to get the ball back at its own 15. However, on second down another fumble bug bit the Truckers and Willard recovered at the Norwalk 17 and punched it in two plays later for what proved to be the final score.

As a team, the Truckers picked up 197 yards rushing, but were hurt by the loss of starting quarterback Tyson Ringle to an ankle injury as they finished just 2 of 10 passing for a net of 20 yards through the air.