Norwalk battles, but falls short in loss to Willard

Norwalk's Nate Phillips (27) and Drew Williams (51) raise their hands in celebration as quarterback Kyle Kurtz pushes across the goal line on a 2-point conversion to pull Norwalk within 21-14 in the fourth quarter.

NORWALK- The Norwalk Truckers were in position late to ruin all hopes for any Willard positives this season, but in the end the Flashes will not be in any league title scenarios next week regardless.

The Willard Flashes and their slim chances were eliminated from the league title hunt last night after two disappointing losses over the last three weeks (Shelby, Bellevue), but still are playing for something after a 34-14 win over Norwalk. Willard can finish in a tie for 2nd place and finish 6-4 with a win over Upper Sandusky (2-7,1-5) next week at home, just a year removed from a 3-7 season.

With Tiffin Columbian's 27-20 win over Bellevue, the league title picture after a logjam for weeks will all come down to a winner-take-all showdown between Shelby and Columbian in Tiffin next week. The Columbian win eliminated Willard and Bellevue from the picture.

With the win Willard improved to 5-4, 4-2, while Norwalk fell to 1-8, 1-5. It was no pushover for the Flashes, however, as the Truckers were in position late.

Trailing 21-6 and faced with a fourth-and-four at their own 48-yard line, Norwalk quarterback Kyle Kurtz found senior Nate Phillips for nine yards and a first down to end the third quarter. On the first play from scrimmage to open the final quarter, Kurtz found Clay Duncan, and the junior made a move on a safety out of position, and turned in a 43-yard touchdown catch at the 11:51 mark. The score capped a 8-play, 80-yard scoring drive. Kurtz then scored the two points on a keeper play to pull Norwalk within 21-14 to bring the sparse and soaked home crowd some excitement.

Five plays later, the defense got what they needed, forcing a Willard punt from the Norwalk 42. Willard punter Brandon Oney, a traditional Trucker killer, then touched off a series of events to help him live up to that billing. First, his punt died in the wet grass and stopped on the Norwalk five yard line, pinning the Truckers deep with just over seven minutes left to play. After three straight plays by the offense netted just two yards, Duncan now had to punt out of his end zone.

Oney then fielded the punt at the Norwalk 39, and took off to the left sideline going towards the south end zone and simply outran the Norwalk punt coverage for an easy punt return for six points to break the game, and the backs, of the Truckers. The run for two failed, but it was a 27-14 advantage with 6:40 left. The icing was put on the game when Duncan again had to punt after three straight incomplete passes, and his knee touched the ground fielding the punt, giving Willard the ball at the Norwalk 15. It took four plays, but on fourth-and-three at the eight-yard line, sophomore Zach Thornton found elder cousin Tyler Thornton for a touchdown pass with 4:03 left to close out the scoring.

Norwalk head coach Jeff Cole talked about the series of events that led to the punt return.

"We talk about it all the time, but this is a game of inches," he said. "That ball on the punt was rolling along, and it just stops dead at the five. That put us right up against our end zone, and it's hard to move the ball out of there sometimes. We've had some success earlier in the year moving it out, but we got stuffed on the first play, and couldn't get on the outside after that. We had to punt, and they got the big play. Oney got us there. I thought for the most part other than one play in the first half we held him in check. He got away from us there and that was the difference. But if we could have gotten the ball at our 20 there, then who knows. It made a big difference, it's a game of inches sometimes but give credit to Willard they made plays when they needed to."

First-year Willard coach Mike Eicher also talked about the punt return, and his team's chances at attaining a top goal next week.

"We really emphasize special teams," he said. "We start practice every week with special teams and it is nice to see the reward of getting in the end zone. We worked on that all year, and it was nice to get a return with that group. I thought Norwalk had a nice game plan defensively. They do a good job of blitzing in that 3-5 and caused some problems for our running game. We had to open some things with the pass, and we were able to open it up a little bit on offensive side of the ball."

"We've talked all year with our team goals," he said. "Our first goal was to win our first game, and our second goal was to have a winning season and contend for the league title and playoffs. That is our number two goal and our seniors have a chance to go out winners and it would be a nice foundation to build upon for the future with this program."

After a scoreless first quarter in which a light rain that started in the pregame picked up to a steady, constant rain, neither team got any offense, although the Flashes turned it over on downs at the Norwalk 12. In the second quarter, the Truckers struck first to the surprise of many, as it was their first lead in nearly a month (Week 6: 7-0 win over Upper). The Truckers put together a 12-play, 66-yard drive, which was kept alive twice on two pass interference calls by the Willard defense. The key play of the drive was a 23-yard run by fullback Josh Cook. Then on third-and-goal from the five, Kurtz found classmate Spencer Krebs on a nice short fade route for the touchdown with 7:45 left in the first half. The try for two failed, with Norwalk leading 6-0.

That was the end of any offensive threat until the fourth quarter, however, and meanwhile, Willard put together three scores by their two main cogs; Tyler Thornton and Brandon Oney. With limited success running the ball, Oney got loose for a 28-yard touchdown catch from Zach Thornton with 4:38 left in the half, which was the "other" big play that Cole referred to (see above) Oney making. Lawrence Cavello added the kick for a 7-6 lead, and a big momentum turn took place just before halftime. Thornton had a pass thrown almost directly to him by Kurtz, and the powerful senior broke two tacklers and added a hurdle on his way to a 25-yard scoring return at the 1:25 mark of the half. The kick failed, but Willard took a 13-6 lead into the locker room.

It was Thornton again getting the lone score of the third quarter, after Bryan Holden partially blocked a Norwalk punt, Willard took over at their own 22. The big fullback then capped the 10-play, 78-yard scoring march with a 16 yard touchdown run at the 3:03 mark of the quarter, and Zach scrambled in the conversion to make it 21-6, which then set up the Norwalk rally and the "Trucker killer" on the punt return.

For Willard, Oney was held to 35 yards rushing on 15 attempts, but caught a pair of passes for 50 yards and the touchdown along with the game-changing punt return. Thornton was the workhorse, picking up 78 yards and a touchdown on 18 attempts while catching the other score and returning the interception. His younger cousin Zach was 5-of-12 passing for 82 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.

For Norwalk, Kurtz completed 11-of-25 passes for 125 yards and two touchdowns, but was hampered by three interceptions. Duncan paced the receivers with five catches for 87 yards and the score, while Phillips caught two for 11 yards and Krebs caught two for 12 yards and a touchdown. Rushing, the Truckers were again limited, as they managed just 61 yards. Norwalk has ran for just under 700 yards as a team in nine weeks. Trent Ringle carried 11 times for 24 yards while Cook, aided by the long run setting up the first score, picked up 35 yards on seven attempts.

"I'm very proud of our effort," Cole said. "That is the same team that shutout Columbian and Fostoria. We hung in the game the entire way until the end there, and they got us there at the end. I thought we took another step forward even though we got beat."

Despite another long, tough grueling season, the 28th straight season without a winning record, the Truckers on paper will be favored in their final game, as they host Galion (1-8, 0-6) next Friday. The Tigers have lost 28 straight Northern Ohio League games dating back to the end of the 2001 season.