Short-handed Columbian blasts Norwalk

Oct. 23—NORWALK — Much of the talk during the week was about the key starters the Tiffin Columbian football team didn't have.

But the Tornadoes still had running back Kesean Jackson among many other talented players in Friday's regular season finale at Norwalk.

Jackson ran for 225 yards and three touchdowns on just 15 attempts as Columbian also got three key fourth down stops in its territory in Friday's 44-7 win over the Truckers in SBC Lake Division play at Contractors Stadium.

Columbian (6-4, 3-2) entered the game with several starters suspended for disciplinary reasons, but steadily pulled away from Norwalk, which finished with a 1-9 record (0-5 Lake).

The Truckers had a fourth-and-1 situation three different times from the Columbian 19, 39 and 27-yard lines and were stopped short all three times. The first two notably were when the game was scoreless and when the Truckers trailed just 8-0 as big momentum killers.

"You have to convert those against good teams and we didn't," Norwalk head coach Todd Fox said. "We felt if we did that and maybe get a couple scores out of that, we'd be in the game.

"But credit Columbian. They had a lot of adversity this week, but Coach (Judd) Lutz had their guys prepared well."

After the two teams traded a pair of possessions to start the game — including the fourth-and-1 stop from the Tiffin 19 — the Tornadoes got on the board when it seemed they had tall odds.

Taking over at their own 10, the Tornadoes got a pass from Luc Busdeker — seeing action at quarterback for the first time this season — to Drew Vasko that covered 86 yards to the 4-yard line.

After a penalty, Brody Conley went in from two yards out on the next play, then Budseker found Cyrus Burden on the conversion pass for an 8-0 lead at the 1:52 mark of the first quarter.

Norwalk was stopped on fourth-and-1 from the TC 39 on its next possession. Just two plays later, Jackson went right up the middle for a 53-yard scoring run, and Busdeker connected with Jack Koerper on the conversion pass for a 16-0 lead with 11:38 left in the first half.

The Truckers answered with a nice drive, which spanned 72 yards over nine plays. Quarterback Payne Flores ran 20 yards to the 13, then covered that distance the next play on a designed run. The Ryan Fox extra point trimmed the deficit to 16-7 with 7:29 left in the half.

However, the Tornadoes responded in under two minutes. A big kick return by Jackson took the ball to midfield, then Conley had a 27-yard run two plays into the drive.

Koerper scored on a 6-yard reverse with 5:14 left in the half for a 22-7 lead, which is where it stood at halftime after the Truckers turned away the Tornadoes on fourth-and-4 from the 6 just before the quarter ended.

Similar to the first half, after the Truckers were stopped fourth-and-1 at the TC 27 on their opening drive of the second half, it took Jackson just two plays to put the game on ice. He scored on a 76-yard run with 7:44 left in the third, and the Conley conversion run made it 30-7.

After a quick three-and-out by Norwalk, Columbian went 53 yards in seven plays as Conley scored from two yards out, then added the conversion run for a 38-7 lead with 4:52 left in the third.

Jackson added a 1-yard TD run with 3:23 left in the game to close out the scoring.

"Those were big plays, real big plays," Lutz said of the three fourth-and-1 stops by his defense. "We bent a little bit on defense. They had some things going and were physical up front. But we came up big with money down stops.

"You have to be great on those types of plays, and we were. We have great players. Some couldn't play, but we had great players ready to go still. It was a tough week for sure for some individuals and the team, but we have hungry guys ready to go — and the season isn't done."

For Norwalk, Flores ran 12 times for 47 yards and the lone score. Daniel Traczek added 64 yards on eight attempts.

"I'm proud of my guys. There are many reasons in a season like this to pack it up, and these guys did the opposite," Fox said. "Our seniors, I would do anything for this group because they did anything for us. I let them down. But the things they taught us about fighting through adversity and to keep going are life lessons that I know they will be better people for it, and so will the younger kids on this team as well as myself and our coaches.

"We love them and we'll move on from this as a program," he added. "We'll finish the year, reevaluate and get to work on 2022."

Columbian 8 14 16 6 — 44

Norwalk 0 7 0 0 — 7

Scoring

COL — Brody Conley 2 run (Luc Busdeker pass to Cyrus Burden)

COL — Kesean Jackson 53 run (Jack Koerper pass from Busdeker)

NOR — Payne Flores 13 run (Ryan Fox kick)

COL — Koerper 6 run (run failed)

COL — Jackson 76 run (Conley run)

COL — Conley 2 run (Conley run)

COL — Jackson 1 run (pass failed)