By RICK SPRUNGER
It was a short night at Norwell.
The game with Delta was postponed at halftime and eventually called due to continuous lightning.
Delta was already leading, 35-0.
“Every lightning flash means another 30 minutes before we can even start warming up again,” explained Norwell coach Josh Gerber of the decision to call the game. “I wasn’t going to run them all the way back up here tomorrow morning to play 24 minutes with a running clock.”
Other than Mother Nature’s halftime fireworks show, it was almost an exact rerun of last week’s 35-0 loss to Mississinewa.
Like last week, Norwell started strong on defense and stopped Delta cold on its first possession.
Like last week, the Knights then allowed five first-half touchdowns.
Like last week, most of those touchdowns either came on or were set up by big plays.
And like last week, the Eagles squeezed one more touchdown in in the last 35 seconds of the first half to make the score 35-0 and ensure a running clock through the entire second half, in this case one that was never played.
“We have guys who don’t know what they’re doing, and that’s on me,” bit off a tight-lipped Gerber after the game, dutifully falling on his own sword. “We’re going the wrong way on pass protection, we’re having breakdowns in coverage, breakdowns in offensive execution,” said Gerber ticking things off on his fingers.
“It’s on me,” he said again. “Either we’re not coaching them properly in practice on what to do, or we’re not correcting things when they’re done wrong, but either way it’s on me. But there’s just no excuse at this point in the season for us not to know what we’re doing.”
The numbers are ugly.
Delta rolled up a whopping 419 yards in total offense and 17 first downs — in only two quarters of play.
Norwell managed just 111 yards in total offense.
Of course, Delta is also a pretty good team. And its quarterback, Bronson Edwards, comes with quite a few press clippings.
He passed for some 1,800 yards for a sectional championship team a year ago and started this season with four touchdown passes last week.
Against Norwell, he completed six of 11 passes for 162 yards and two scores.
Those are pedestrian numbers for him, but he only played two quarters.
He hit Cooper Bratton for a 59-yard scoring strike midway through the second quarter to give the Eagles a 13-0 lead, then completed two passes of 31 yards to Amir Wright-Hill and 44 yards to Zane Cline to cover all but one yard of a 76-yard three-play drive later in the quarter.
Delta had the big play going on the ground, too.
Bryce Stroble raced 60 yards on one play in the first quarter before being run down by Drew Graft at the 7.
But that just delayed the Eagle touchdown by one play.
Nolan Carpenter then broke loose straight up the middle for 55 yards before also being caught by Graft at the 7. And again, Delta punched it in on the next play.
Perhaps the one Norwell highlight of the evening was an interception by Trey Privett at the 1-yard line to stop a Delta drive that had reached the Norwell 16 late in the first quarter.
It’s not going to get any easier for the Knights next week, traveling as they do to Class 4A No. 10 Leo.
“We’re going to keep battling,” promised Gerber of his team’s resolve. “That’s all we can do.”
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DELTA 35, NORWELL 0
at Norwell
Delta (2-0) 7 28 x x — 35
Norwell (0-2) 0 0 x x — 0
First Quarter
D—Nash Keesling 7 run (Landon Richie kick), 6:44.
Second Quarter
D—Cooper Bratton 59 pass from Bronson Edwards (kick failed), 7:30.
D—Nolan Carpenter 7 run (kick failed), 5:34.
D—Zane Cline 44 pass from Edwards (Deacon Blevins pass from Edwards), 2:01.
D—Carpenter 3 run (Carpenter run), 0:35.
Third Quarter
Did not play.
Fourth Quarter
Did not play.
Team Stats
DEL NOR
First Downs 17 7
Rushes-Yards 23-257 18-20
Passing Yards 162 91
Passes (C-A-I) 6-12-1 6-13-0
Punts-Average 1-25.0 5-34.0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 2-15 1-10
Time of Possession 10:33 13:27
Individual Stats
Rushing: Delta-Nolan Carpenter 7-95, Chase Ritchie 7-93, Bryce Stroble 3-26, Bronson Edwards 2-20, Kamryn Wilson 1-15, Amir Wright-Hill 1-13, Nash Keesling 1-7, Deacon Blevins 1-(-12); Norwell-Alex Fojtik 8-18, Cayden Cassel 5-3, Drew Jolly 2-3, Adam Mahnensmith 1-(-1), Max Babcock 1-(-3).
Passing: Delta-Bronson Edwards 6-11-1 162, Deacon Blevins 0-1-0 0; Norwell-Cayden Cassel 6-13-0 91.
Receiving: Delta-Zane Cline 2-51, Amir Wright-Hill 2-40, Cooper Bratton 1-59, Chase Ritchie 1-12; Norwell-Drew Graft 4-78, Max Babcock 1-7, Brady Smith 1-6.
