Columbian makes Norwalk pay to set up showdown

NORWALK — The stage is set.It took turning away a scrappy Norwalk team early, but the Columbian football team has set itself up for one of the bigger regular season games in several years.Columbian scored three touchdowns in each of the first two quarters in a 44-7 win over the Truckers in SBC Lake Division play at Contractors Stadium. The win improved the Tornadoes — ranked No. 8 in the Division III Associated Press poll — to 8-1 overall and 3-0 in the Lake.Now, the Tornadoes will host Div. IV No. 2 Perkins (8-0, 3-0) in a winner-take-all game for the league championship in the regular season finale on Oct. 20 at Frost-Kalnow Stadium."Excited for the opportunity," Columbian coach Judd Lutz said. "When you do all the little things and continue to get better throughout the year, you hope to be in position to have big games down the stretch."That's what we've been able to do here for the last few years, and now these guys have another opportunity in front of them next week."The Truckers (3-6, 0-3) had consecutive touchdowns erased on penalties on fourth-and-goal plays, were intercepted inside the Columbian 15-yard line, and turned it over on downs at the Columbian 35. That was all in the first 10-plus minutes of the game, and the Tornadoes made the Truckers pay each time.After forcing a three-and-out to start the game, the Truckers got a 39-yard punt return by Ben Rothhaar to set up at the Columbian 24. But on the second play, the Tornadoes intercepted a Brayden Viock pass.That resulted in a 7-play, 76-yard drive that quarterback Brayden Roggow finished on a 2-yard run. The errant pass off a bad hold was incomplete for the 6-0 lead.Norwalk's ensuing possession ended with Rothhaar on a 13-yard catch coming up short of the first down at the Columbian 35 for a turnover on downs. Four runs by Damien Brockington finished with an 8-yard TD, and the first of five PATs by Liam Kerr extended the Tiffin lead to 13-0 at the 5:14 mark of the first quarter.Then came the game's key turning point.Mason Canalos opened Norwalk's next drive with a 35-yard run. Eight plays later, the Truckers were at the Columbian 3 and faced fourth-and-goal. Canalos appeared to score with ease, but an illegal formation resulted in a 5-yard penalty.Then, Viock was able to scramble out of trouble and simply heaved it to the back corner of the end zone. Sam Konik came down with the apparent touchdown, but was whistled for offensive pass interference. Now with a fourth-and-goal from the 23, the Viock pass was incomplete with 1:23 left in the first quarter.And the Tornadoes didn't miss when they got the ball back. Brockington immediately ran for 50 yards, then scored from the 10 three plays later for a 20-0 lead with just four seconds left in the quarter."They have good players and had a good plan coming out with a tempo offense — they had not shown that a ton," Lutz said of Norwalk. "They had some wrinkles on defense as well, and we had to account for certain guys. "It took us a series or two to kind of get going, and defensively I thought we bent but didn't break for the most part."Norwalk did respond with a 9-play, 75-yard scoring drive, as Rothhaar came down with another fourth-and-goal pass from the Tiffin 8. He had a 54-yard catch to set up the score. Tommy Vanderpool's extra point made it a 27-7 deficit with 8:55 left in the half.But less than a minute later, Brayden Roggow found Jack Koerper for a 43-yard TD pass. Brockington added a 14-yard TD run with 5:27 left in the half, then Roggow found Bryce Roggow on a 21-yard TD pass at the 3:21 mark.Leading 41-7, the Tornadoes then got a 21-yard field goal by Kerr on the final play of the half. Columbian turned away the Truckers inside their own 10 twice in the second half with a running clock.Brayden Roggow finished 16-of-21 passing for 217 yards and 2 TDs for the Tornadoes. In just one half, Brockington totaled 180 yards and 3 TDs on 16 carries.Also for Columbian, Koerper had six catches for 124 yards and the TD, while Bryce Roggow added 87 yards and a TD on eight catches."They take a lot of pride in their craft, obviously they have speed, and mental and physical toughness to go with it," Lutz said of his offensive standouts. "We're not a run first or a pass first, we take what's there first and get the ball out in different guys' hands. They are a special group as a whole."For Norwalk, Rothhaar caught eight passes for 136 yards and the score for the Truckers. Viock completed 16-of-29 pass attempts for 224 yards. Canalos added 73 yards on 20 rush attempts, while Nate Kessler caught four passes for 61 yards.Norwalk visits Clyde (4-5, 0-3) next Friday in a matchup that may serve as a play-in game for the Div. III playoffs."We still have things to fix on both sides of the ball, but obviously we've put yourselves in a position to have a championship week ahead of us," Lutz said.