Penalties, Norwalk’s aerial attack sink Panthers, 26-7

NORWALK — Junior quarterback Brady Brandsfield threw for 299 yards, including 122 on 13 connections to Tyler Schamel, and Zach Kreider kicked four field goals as third-ranked Norwalk defeated Creston/O-M Friday, 26-7.

The Panthers were hampered by 10 penalties for 77 yards, including a holding call on the team’s first offensive play — a long downfield pass completion from German foreign exchange quarterback Moritz Johannknecht to Chris Foster.

“Pretty much the first play of the game summed up the night,” said Creston/O-M head coach Brian Morrison. “We would drive the ball, get good field position, then one time we’re third-and 40. We’re a good football team, but we’re not executing right now. We had way too many penalties. Way too many procedural issues in the game. We have to clean things up.”

The Panthers have another non-district opponent this week — at home against Clarinda, a 34-14 winner over Atlantic Friday — before opening district play against a Winterset team that started its 2015 campaign with a 20-9 win over Oskaloosa. Norwalk faces Winterset this week.

“The penalties helped us a ton,” said Norwalk coach Paul Patterson. “They had one drive that was going really well, and then penalties put them off schedule. They ended up third-and-42 or something on one of them. That makes a huge difference. We had trouble finishing drives, but our kicker was hitting field goals.”

Kreider, in his first season as the Warriors’ varsity kicker, connected on field goals from 44, 33, 30 and 28 yards.

Brandsfield led Norwalk’s short, precision passing game by completing 26 of 44 attempts. He was intercepted three times, including twice in the end zone and another time on the Panther 2-yard line. Kole Lovely had two of the interceptions and Kylan Smallwood had the other.

“Our defense had red zone stops,” said Panther offensive coordinator and co-head coach Ryan McKim. “It was a frustrating night. With the type of offense we want to be, we have to stay ahead of the chains. We just didn’t execute tonight, but we’ll learn from it. We we’ll get our offensive identity figured out. We’ll be fine.”

In his American high school debut, Johannknecht was 10-of-19 for 101 yards for one TD and one interception. Fullback Jackson Mikkelsen had two catches for 23 yards. Tailback Chase Shiltz rushed 20 times for 100 yards. Kolby Tomas carried four times for 52 yards.

Norwalk’s leading rusher was Coby Klocko with 60 yards on 14 carries. Brandsfield kept 12 times for 42 yards.

Hot start

Schamel was a consistent target of Brandsfield, catching 13 of the 25 completions. Brandsfield had the short, possession passing attack clicking from the start, throwing for 101 yards in the opening period.

Devin Pirkle hauled in a 5-yard TD pass as Norwalk took a 7-0 lead with 3:54 left in the first quarter. Kreider’s 30-yarder with only three seconds left made it 10-0 at halftime.

Norwalk outgained the Panthers 263-96 in the opening half.

Norwalk took advantage of a Panther fumble during a light rain early in the third period to give Kreider a chance for his 44-yarder to make it 13-0 with 9:04 left in the period.

Creston/O-M got on the scoreboard with 5:50 left in the third period. On fourth-and-1 at the Warrior 8, Johannknecht faked a handoff to his rushing workhorse, Shiltz, and rolled out to his left on a bootleg. He lofted a pass high in the left corner of the end zone to 6-foot-4 tight end Colton Bolinger, who caught it for the TD.

“That’s a good red zone man coverage play,” McKim said. “Bolinger is a big guy and we have to find ways to use him. We executed it.”

Insurance scores

Holding a precarious 13-7 lead, Norwalk was able to make it a two-possession game when Kreider hit his third field goal of the game from 28 yards to make it 16-7. Then, his fourth from 32 yards made it 19-7 with 3:30 left.

Field position set up those three-point connections. Lovely’s leaping interception gave the Panthers the ball at their own 2-yard line to thwart a Warrior drive after it was cut to 13-7, but Norwalk’s defense forced Bolinger to punt from deep in his own end zone.

A.J. Tabatabai’s 20-yard punt return gave Norwalk an excellent opportunity again at the Panther 17. An incompletion on third-and-4 brought Kreider in for the 28-yarder.

Misfortune again struck the Panther offense on the next two possessions. A high shotgun snap led to a loss of 10 yards, and two more procedural penalties created a fourth-and-20 and a punt on the first one. On the next one, Creston/O-M went for it on fourth-and-8 trailing 16-7 with only 4:59 left.

Trying to scramble against the pass rush closing in on him, Johannknecht lost the ball. Norwalk’s Orin Waters fell on it at the Panther 18. Three plays later Kreider connected from 32 yards to make it 19-7.

With Division I defensive end recruit Sonny Onken bearing down on him, Johannknecht was jarred on the release and Will Fraser picked off a high floater, returning it 45 yards for a touchdown and a 26-7 lead with 2:46 to play.

“Going up 16-7 was huge for us, because it was pretty shaky at just 13-7,” Patterson said.

“We stayed in it, then we felt we had to go for it on fourth down there in the fourth quarter,” Morrison said. “They scored three on that, and they picked us off and returned it to seal it. Against that offense you have to keep them in front of you and make them earn it, and for the most part we did that. They really didn’t have many big plays. Norwalk is a good football team. That’s why we play them in week one, to learn things.”

All-state linebacker Seth Maitlen had four solo tackles and eight assisted tackles for the Panthers. Kadon Hulett had two quarterback sacks. Hulett and Trevor Downing each batted down a Brandsfield pass.

Returning starting center Cody Tanner did not play for the Panthers. He was in street clothes and wearing a protective boot after suffering a high ankle sprain in practice on Tuesday. His timetable for a return is two to four weeks, but he is scheduled for a follow-up exam on Tuesday.

QB debut

Both Panther coaches felt it was a satisfactory debut by Johannknecht, one of the top junior quarterbacks in Germany who has had three weeks to learn the Creston/O-M system. Norwalk’s state of the art facility with large video board, booming sound system, turf field and the anticipation of an opening-night crowd created a big-game atmosphere for his in initial experience.

“This is one of the toughest environments to play in 3A, as far as the grandeur of the facility, the crowd size, and going against a really good football team that executes well,” Morrison said. “His eyes were wide. But he’ll be fine. It was week one for a lot of our new guys.”

Norwalk 26, Creston/O-M 7

Points by quarter

C/O-M  0  0  7  0  —  7

Norwalk  7  3  3  13  —  26

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

N — Devin Pirkle 5 pass from Brady Brandsfield (Zachary Kreider kick), 3:54

Second Quarter

N — Kreider 30 FG, :03

Third Quarter

N — Kreider 45 FG, 9:04

Cr — Colton Bolinger 8 pass from Moritz Johannkecht (Evan Jacobson kick), 5:50

Fourth Quarter

N — Kreider 32 FG, 3:30

N — Will Fraser 45 interception return (Kreider kick), 2:46

—————

TEAM STATISTICS

C/O-M  ...  Nor

First downs  13  ...  26

Rushes-yards  25-169  ...  29-109

Passing yards   101  ...  299

Total yards  270  ...  408

Punts-avg.  5-42.2  ...  1-29

Return yards  133  ...  128

Fumbles-lost  5-2  ...  0-0

Penalties-yards  10-77  ...  5-40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Cr: Chase Shiltz 20-100, Kolby Tomas 4-52, Moritz Johannknecht 5-7, Mitchel Swank 3-5, Chris Foster 1-2, Seth Maitlen 1-2, Kole Lovely 1-1. Nor: Coby Klocko 14-60, Brady Brandsfield 7-16.

PASSING — Cr: Johannknecht 10-19-1 for 101 yards. Nor: Brady Brandsfield 26-44-3 for 299 yards.

RECEIVING — Cr: Jackson Mikkelsen 2-23, Shiltz 3-21, Maitlen 1-20, Gavin Woods 1-13, Tomas 1-11, Colton Bolinger 1-8, Foster 1-5. Nor: Tyler Schamel 13-122, Devin Pirkle 6-58, Klocko 2-23, Trevor Neil 2-13, Andrew Mellencamp 1-13.

PUNTS-AVG. — Cr: Bolinger 5-42.2. Nor: Klocko 1-29.

TACKLE LEADERS (solo-assists) — Cr: Seth Maitlen 4-8, Kylan Smallwood 7-1, Cameron Leith 4-3, Kole Lovely 5-1, Ryan Brown 1-5, Trevor Downing 0-5, Chris Foster 3-2, Chase Shiltz 2-1, Kadon Hulett 1-2, Cody Crawford 1-2, Blake Sevier 1-1, Jackson Mikkelsen 1-1.

INTERCEPTIONS — Cr: Lovely 2, Smallwood 1. Nor: Will Fraser 1.

PASS BREAKUPS — Nor: Hulett 1, Downing 1.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES — Nor: A. J. Tabatabai 1, Orin Waters 1.

TACKLES FOR LOSS (YARDS) — Cr: Hulett 2-(-11), Sevier 1-(-2).

SACKS — Cr: Hulett 2.