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Truckers commit three turnovers and pick up just three first downs on offense.

BUCYRUS- Not bad, but a little better.

Those were the overall thoughts after the Truckers dropped a 21-6 defeat in one half vs. Bucyrus Wynford in Saturday morning's scrimmage finale. The Truckers will now prepare for Edison next Friday night at the Melon Bowl in Milan.

"We are getting better," Norwalk head coach Jeff Cole said. "We got a little better from the first scrimmage to the second one here today. We did some things right, we did some things wrong. We gave too much cushion in the secondary and the linebackers aren't quite stepping up as well as they need to step up. But we are getting better day by day, but this is a young team...one of the youngest teams around. You don't get that experience overnight, it takes a little bit of time."

Proof of the inexperience clearly came on the offensive side of the ball, as aside from one big play, it was a scuffle all morning for the Norwalk offense. After the Truckers gained just three yards in four plays before turning it over to Wynford, the Royals struck for a big play as they scored on a 66-yard touchdown pass with 6:56 left in the opening frame. After the extra point, it was 7-0, but the Royals came right back. After Norwalk picked up eight yards on their ensuing drive, the Royals marched down and capped off a 62-yard drive with a 2-yard run with 1:28 left in the opening quarter for a 14-0 lead.

It was at that point when the Trucker offense snapped off their big play, as on the sixth play of the ensuing drive sophomore quarterback Kyle Kurtz found sophomore tight end Tyler Smith across the middle for around a 25-yard gain, but the tight end kept rumbling, breaking two tackles before winning a sprint race to the end zone for a 67-yard score with 10:35 left in the second quarter. Kurtz missed the extra point wide to the left, leaving the score at 14-6.

Wynford added a seven-yard scoring run with 4:36 left off of a Norwalk fumble to wrap up the scoring. Both sides then got a little sloppy down the stretch, turning it over back and forth to each other.

"I thought we threw the ball more, and early on we caught some passes," Cole said. "Our protection early on was good, and we didn't run the ball too bad. We got behind a bit and had to throw more. I saw a lot of good things."

In all, the Norwalk offense managed just 103 yards of total offense, while picking up three first downs and committing three turnovers. The Truckers also had two penalties for 15 yards. Passing, Kurtz finished 6-of-13 for 93 yards and one touchdown, while Smith had a pair of grabs for 76 yards including the score. Also catching passes for Norwalk were Nate Phillips (two for three yards), Spencer Krebs (one for six yards), and Clay Duncan (one for eight yards). Rushing, sophomore Trent Ringle picked up 16 yards on five attempts, while classmate Josh Cook added 11 yards on four attempts.

With four practices left to prepare for Edison, Cole talked about the week ahead.

"We have to get a little bit better, he said. "We can't rest, and need to continue to improve day by day. We need to be more physical and get better fundamentally. I thought our fundamentals were better today than they were Tuesday, but Edison is a good football team and it will be a heck of a challenge for us."