By RICK SPRUNGER
MUNCIE — O.K., a loss is a loss is a loss.
But Norwell’s 34-16 defeat at Delta Friday night comes with a huge asterisk.
Maybe Delta would have won anyway, seeing as how it racked up a whopping 554 yards in total offense.
But the complexion of the game completely changed when Norwell starting quarterback Drew Graft went down with a twisted ankle with 3:42 left in the second quarter and never returned.
Graft had rushed for 122 yards on 10 carries in less than two-quarters of football, and he had his team on the march again with a 16-14 lead and the ball in Delta territory.
But he didn’t get up from a pile after a two-yard pickup to the Eagle 38-yard line.
The extent of the injury was unknown at press time, but he put no weight on the foot at all on his way off the field, and he spent the second half on crutches with a heavily taped ankle.
Suddenly, the momentum that had filled the Knights’ sails in the first half was blowing like a gale in their faces in the second half.
After putting up 205 yards in total offense in the first half, the Knights managed just 20 in the final two quarters.
“We can let adversity define us, or we can define ourselves,” said an even-keeled Norwell coach, Josh Gerber, after the game.
Gerber, who had already lost backup quarterback Alex Foljik to a knee injury a week earlier, was forced to go with third-stringer Caiden Cassel.
“He did a nice job for being thrust in like that,” said Gerber of his sophomore. “He stood in there really well in the pocket.”
But he didn’t have much time.
With the elusive Graft out of the game, the Delta defense, sensing blood in the water, pinned its ears back and went after everything the Knights had left.
“They loaded things up in the middle, doubled us up on the outside, and brought man pressure,” said Gerber later.
And the game swung completely in Delta’s favor, and the Eagles did it by land and by air.
Nolan Carpenter rushed for 191 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries, and quarterback Bronson Edwards completed 12 of 24 passes for 212 yards.
But it was primarily in the second half.
True, Delta had put up an impressive 287 yards in total offense in the first half, but it only had two touchdowns to show for its efforts as it alternated between shooting itself in the foot and coming up with a remarkable tendency to convert on third-and-long with big plays.
A bad snap from center on third-and-2 resulted in a 12-yard loss and ruined a promising opening Delta drive.
In addition, the Eagles gave Norwell golden field position with a muffed punt and a fumble deep in its own territory and also self-destructed on their final drive of the first half when Edwards, not once but twice, was flagged for throwing illegal forward passes after crossing the line of scrimmage.
But Norwell, who had seemingly little difficulty moving the ball between the twenties in the first half, had trouble finishing drives.
Three times, Austin DeLeon was called on to kick field goals, and three times, DeLeon delivered, connecting from 26, 31, and 46 yards to stake the Knights to a 16-7 second-quarter lead.
The lone Norwell touchdown came on a surprise quarterback sneak by Graft on a first-and-10 play from his own 35.
“We had a check at the line,” explained Gerber of the unusual call. “They had a nose playing off the ball and a defensive tackle lined up wide. If (Graft) saw that alignment, he could call it.”
He did, and he was in the Delta secondary practically before it knew the ball had been snapped.
After that, it was a 65-yard footrace, one that Graft was not going to lose.
Delta got two touchdowns in the first half, one of them on a two-play bolt of lightning that saw the Eagles cover 80 yards in a mere 28 seconds on consecutive carries of 59 yards by Carpenter and 21 by Kaiden Bond, who finished with 79 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries himself.
The other score came on an 80-yard second-quarter drive that saw the Eagles convert a third-and-10 with a 49-yard pass from Edwards to Jonny Manor and a fourth-and-9 with a 13-yard pass to D’Amare Hood.
“I was proud of the way we battled and fought,” concluded Gerber. “We didn’t back down. Still, we have to do better.”
It’s not going to get any easier for Norwell, who takes on Leo next week.
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DELTA 34, NORWELL 16
at Delta High School
Score by quarters
Norwell (0-2) 13 3 0 0 — 16
Delta (2-0) 7 7 7 13 — 34
First Quarter
NOR—FG Austin DeLeon 26, 3:45.
DEL—Kaiden Bond 21 run (Brayden Stanley kick), 3:17.
NOR—Drew Graft 65 run (DeLeon kick), 2:57.
NOR—FG DeLeon 31, 1:39.
Second Quarter
NOR—FG DeLeon 46, 11:20.
DEL—Nolan Carpenter 6 run (Stanley kick), 9:15.
Third Quarter
DEL—Carpenter 3 run (Stanley kick), 0:50.
Fourth Quarter
DEL—Carpenter 3 run (Stanley kick), 10:28.
DEL—Bond 19 run (pass failed), 7:17.
Team Statistics
NOR DEL
First Downs 9 22
Rushes-Yards 36-181 43-342
Passing (C-A-I) 5-20-1 12-24-0
Passing Yards 40 212
Penalties-Yards 7-60 8-55
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 3-2
Punts-Average 8-45.6 2-32.5
Time of Possession 22:06 25:54
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Norwell-Timothy Bonjour 11-50, Drew Graft 10-122, Trey Bodenheimer 5-8, Cayden Cassel 4-(-6), Quentauris Jones 3-7, Drew Jolley 2-3, Cohen Bailey 1-1; Delta-Nolan Carpenter 17-191, Kaiden Bond 13-79, Amir Wright-Hill 5-28, Jayleon Jones 4-56, Grey Backus 2-12, Bronson Edwards 2-(-24).
Passing: Norwell-Drew Graft 2-10-1 21, Caiden Cassel 3-10-0 19; Delta-Bronson Edwards 12-24-0 212.
Receiving: Norwell-Cohen Bailey 2-24, Drew Jolley 1-12, Trey Bodenheimer 1-9, Collin Burns 1-5; Delta-D’Amare Hood 5-90, Jonny Manor 5-81, Jayleon Jones 2-25.
