Norwalk, Edwards run past Warde

NORWALK — The last time Cam Edwards and his Norwalk team played to fans in the stands, he was just a sophomore. He made sure to make his senior home opener a special one.

The senior totaled five touchdowns, four of them coming on the ground as the Bears improved to 2-0 in a 46-13 win over Warde.

Even with all the attention pointed towards him, Edwards praised the boys up front.

“I give credit to my offensive line guys,” Edwards said. “I’ve had one of these types of games before. I try to have it be a regular basis kind of thing, but they get all the credit.”

Warde opened the scoring on a series of unfortunate events for Norwalk. A punt return which the Bears sideline thought was a fair catch turned into three straight penalties against Norwalk, putting the Mustangs at the goal line. From there Jaykob Bermudez ran his way in to give Warde the early 6-0 lead.

Norwalk would not only respond, but did so by relying on Edwards. Edwards opened his eventful evening late in the first quarter, punching in a touchdown from three yards out to give the Bears a 7-6 lead.

Even though Norwalk head coach Pat Miller calls his Bears an “offense first team,” the defensive unit set up its offense with great field position on a pair of Mustang miscues.

Two plays into Warde’s drive following Edwards’ first touchdown, Norwalk’s Zach Christinat recovered a fumble that slipped out of Mustang quarterback Charlie Gulbin’s hands.

On Warde’s next drive, Gulbin lost the football again, putting Norwalk at the Mustangs 18-yard line, where Edwards would run it in on the very next play.

Edwards would add one more touchdown in the first half, this time through the air. With four minutes remaining in the second quarter, Shawn Brown launched a 41-yard pass that Edwards was on the other end of, making it 25-6. Warde would add a late touchdown to cut the deficit to 12 at the break.

Edwards made sure to put his fingerprint on the second half as well, adding two more touchdowns, one from 39 yards and another from 47.

“Cam is such a special player that we come to expect it from him,” Miller said. “When we block everything up front, we anticipate him to go.”

While Edwards running attack took most of the attention, the Bears defense produced seven takeaways (three interceptions, four fumble recoveries). Miller called it a proud moment to have his defense step up the way it did.

“I’m so proud of the guys on defense who don’t get the recognition that they sometimes deserve,” Miller said. “We’re hoping to show that we are a good defensive team. We preach takeaways.”

Warde coach Duncan DellaVolpe believes there is a lot that needs to change.

“The message is to have them get their focus in gear,” DellaVolpe said. “We can’t do what we did to ourselves against anybody.”

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Cam Edwards, Norwalk Sr. RB: Scored five touchdowns in the win (four rushing, one receiving). One of Edwards touchdowns came on the end of an 82yard run, and he reeled in a 42-yard touchdown from Shawn Brown.

QUOTEABLE

“The energy was phenomenal tonight. I give all the fans a great round of applause. The Bear pack gave us the energy for everyone,” Norwalk running back Cam Edwards