The Norwalk football team will strive for its second win of the season, and second in a row, tonight at Iowa City High. The Warriors enter Week 5 at 1-3 after defeating Ames last week, while the Little Hawks remain winless at 0-4. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. and the game will be streamed on kniakrls.com (KNIA3). Pregame coverage with Mike Oeffner and Shaffer Landuyt begins at 6:30. 

Before last week’s win, Norwalk had lost to three quality opponents in Indianola, Sioux City East, and Southeast Polk. However, Norwalk is coming off a 53-0 shutout against Ames, scoring 39 points in the first half. In Iowa City High’s first four weeks, they have been outscored by 30, 14, 36, and 19 points in losses to Iowa City West, Bettendorf, Waukee Northwest, and Cedar Falls. They are currently averaging 4.1 yards per carry and have completed 58% of their passes, with the distribution nearly even between two quarterbacks.

Norwalk head coach Paul Patterson tells KNIA Sports that he was pleased with how the Warriors ended the first half against Ames, particularly in their management of the clock. They scored 17 points in the last 2:30 of the second quarter, having only one timeout remaining. He also noted the team’s confidence and focus have remained strong this season, but resonate more after last week’s win. 

“That confidence piece is huge, and at some point in time, you have to see some success from being confident,” Patterson said. “You can’t be confident and 0-9. It doesn’t work out that way, and so for us to be able to get a win on Friday was huge.”

Patterson adds the keys to success today are to recognize Iowa City’s frequent blitz and cut back on penalties, of which they had 10 last week. He emphasized the importance of winning the battle of field position and turnovers, which Norwalk hadn’t done in Weeks 1-3, but took care of in their Week 4 win.