By RYAN WALKER
Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for Norwell in its 47-7 loss in the opening round of the sectional Friday night.
There was a glimmer of hope that the Knights (3-7) were clicking at the right time after an upset road win over Columbia City last week, but Delta (6-4) threw the knockout punch right away and never looked back.
Norwell had six possessions in the first quarter; five went for punts, and the sixth was a turnover. To make it worse, all six of those possessions gave Delta the ball in plus territory.
Somehow, the Eagles only held a 21-0 lead after those six drives, with the Knights defending the endzone the best they could.
“We played a little short-handed and just got off to a terrible, terrible start,” Norwell head coach Josh Gerber said after the game. “(We) couldn’t quite seem to recover from that, and it just seemed to spiral downhill.”
The offense was partially to blame, having to battle against the wind blowing heavy in its face with a brick wall front-four from Delta.
The score got up to 33-0 with 3:57 left in the half before Cayden Cassel barely got the ball out in time before getting nailed in the backfield. His throw hit a covered Cohen Bailey, who snatched the ball on a 10-yard dig route and put on the jets to score on a 67-yard play.
Cassel came in for the injured starting quarterback Drew Graft during the second quarter, which was not unfamiliar territory. The sophomore also replaced Graft in the second quarter earlier in the season in week two against Delta as well.
The Eagles answered back right away two minutes later, scoring on a 40-yard touchdown pass by Bronson Edwards to Chase Ritchie.
That score made it 40-7 at the break, and Norwell mustered a measly 41 yards of total offense. If you took away the 67-yard pass from Cassel to Bailey, the total yardage drops down to -25.
From the very first snap, the Knights were eaten alive by the big boys up front, as the negative yardage plays all came from on the ground.
“(Delta) did what we thought they would do,” Gerber said about the offensive and defensive lines. “They just kicked our butts — (on) both sides of the ball, especially up front. I was a little bit surprised when they controlled the line of scrimmage with both sides. We’ve got to be better than what we were, and we absolutely were not, and that’s just something we’ve got to get better at.”
On the away side of the field, the Eagles were feasting off of both yards through the air and on the ground. They outgained the Knights by 245 yards of total offense, with the majority of it on the ground. Edwards cashed in for three total touchdowns with two in the air.
The Knights’ defense stiffened up in the second half, allowing for just one score and forced three Delta punts.
The Eagles didn’t nearly move the ball as much as they did in the first half. The Knights got the ball in better field position to start drives. Delta had just one drive started at the 40-yard line or better in Knights’ territory, as opposed to the six in the first half.
Norwell, however, still struggled to move the ball. Three more punts added up to 9 total for the evening. Their total yardage for the game ended up with 73, only 1 on the ground on 25 carries.
The Knights finished the rough season at 3-7 after a 10-2 end to last year. The graduation of most of the starters played a critical role in the seven-loss decrease in about 365 days.
The loss will hurt, and Gerber expressed that to his team.
“I mean, it doesn’t matter if you get beat by one or 40, it’s going to sting, and it’s really going to hurt, and you feel for those guys.,” Gerber said. “You wish them nothing but the best.”
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DELTA 47, NORWELL 7
At Norwell
Score By Quarters
Delta 21 19 7 0 – 0
Norwell 0 7 0 0 – 0
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
D—Kaiden Bond 1-yard run (Brayden Stanley kick), 5:17.
D—Bond 8-yard run (Stanley kick), 4:37.
D—Jayleon Jones 26-yard run (Stanley kick), 0:19 seconds.
Second Quarter
D—Bronson Edwards 9-yard pass to Nolan Carpenter (kick failed), 10:05.
D—Edwards 1-yard run (2-pt failed), 3:57.
N—DCayden Cassel 67-yard pass to Cohen Bailey (Austin De Leon kick), 3:44.
D—Edwards 40-yard pass to Chase Ritchie (Stanley kick), 1:17.
Third Quarter
D—Bond 14-yard run (Stanley kick),1:30.
Fourth Quarter
No scoring.
Team Statistics
NOR DEL
First Downs 5 17
Rushes-Yards 25-1 52-317
Yards Passing 72 60
Passing (C-A-I) 12-3-0 7-4-0
Penalties-Yards 6-60 1-5
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 0-0
Punts-Average 9-24 3-40
Time of Possession 13:19 32:15
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Delta: Kaiden Bond 19-141, Jayleon Jones 7-71, Nolan Carpenter 10-40, Landon Ritchie 1-30. Norwell: Quentauris Jones 9-27, Cohen Bailey 1-(-1), Collin Burns 1-(-1), Cayden Cassel 1-(-4).
Passing: Delta: Bronson Edwards 4-7-0 60. Norwell: Cayden Cassel 2-66, Drew Graft 1-7 -1.
Receiving: Delta: Chase Ritchie 3-51, Nolan Carpenter 1-9. Norwell: Cohen Bailey 2-66, Trace Moser 1-6.
