The 2022 Norwich cheer and football seniors: Cheerleader Halie Rotundo. Football players: Max Morris, Quincy Carnachan, Gage Titsworth, Mason Edwards, Anthony Ragonese, Kyle Linger, Nate Murphy, Michael Manwarren, Aiden Rebmann, Jake Llewellyn, Harrison Matlack-Grey, PJ Bookamer, Hunter Wenzel. (Photo by Morgan Golliver)

NORWICH – On Friday, the Norwich Purple Tornado football team hosted a tough Waverly team on Senior Night.

Prior to the game, Norwich honored its football and cheer seniors. Cheerleader Halie Rotundo, along with football players Max Morris, Quincy Carnachan, Gage Titsworth, Mason Edwards, Anthony Ragonese, Kyle Linger, Nate Murphy, Michael Manwarren, Aiden Rebmann, Jake Llewellyn, Harrison Matlack-Grey, PJ Bookamer, and Hunter Wenzel, were all honored for their dedication and commitment to Norwich athletics.

Norwich played their best against a powerful team, but lost 35-17.

Waverly was pass-heavy on offense, putting up a massive 313 yards against Norwich’s defense. Norwich did force Waverly to punt the ball twice early in the first half, including drives deep in their own zone, which made for short punts that Norwich capitalized on.

Norwich scored first on a Holden Ryan one yard run on a fourth and goal. Ryan only scored the one touchdown but finished with 105 rushing yards.

Norwich also set up a late scoring drive before halftime. They drove the ball down the field to set up a Spencer Root 23 yard field goal, where the kick was good.

Norwich was down 14-10 at halftime, leaving room for a potential comeback in the second half, but Norwich could not regain confidence to keep up with Waverly. The Wolverines scored three more times before Norwich answered back late in the fourth quarter with Mitchell Collins in at Quarterback. With less than five minutes to go in the game and Norwich on their own nine yard line, Norwich quickly took the ball down the field with big runs from Gage Titsworth and Collins himself. Collins scored on a quarterback keeper.

Friday’s loss was the final regular season game. Norwich currently stands at 6-3 and second in their division, behind Maine-Endwell.

The Purple Tornado will host Windsor at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 4. Norwich defeated Windsor in the regular season 28-6 and anticipates the playoff matchup.

Scores by Quarter

WAV 0 14 14 7–35

NHS 7 3 0 7–17

Scoring Plays: N, Holden Ryan one yard run (Spencer Root kick is good); W, Joey Tomasso four yard run (Ryan Clark kick is good); Tomasso 43 yard pass to Jay Pipher (Clark kick is good); N, Spencer Root 23 yard field goal attempt is good; W, Tomasso two yard pass to Isaiah Bretz (Clark kick is good); Tomasso two yard run (Clark kick is good); W, Tomasso 36 yard pass to Jake Vanhouton (Clark kick is good); N, Mitchell Collins two yard run (Root kick is good). 

Team Summary:

First Downs: N 19, W 18. Rushes-yds: N 43-211 yds, W 18-92 yds. Passing: N 11-22, 86 yds; W 16-22, 313 yds, 3 TD. Total Yards: N 297, W 405. Punts-Avg: N 6-32.8, W 2-34.5. Records: N 6-3, W 8-1. 

Individual Stats:

Rushing: N, Holden Ryan 21-105 yds, TD; Mitchell Collins 3-44 yds, TD; Gage Titsworth 5-43 yds, Steven Dowdall 6-13 yds, Braden Hagenbuch 5-6 yds, Team 1-0, Mason Edwards 2-0. W, Braeden Hills 11-60 yds, Joey Tomasso 4-15, 2 TD; Jay Pipher 2-13 yds, Nathaniel Peters 1-4 yds. 

Passing: N, Steven Dowdall 11-19, 86 yds; Mitchell Collins 0-3,0. W, Joey Tomasso 16-22, 313 yds, 3 TD.

Receiving (rec-yards): N, Richard Fuller 5-30 yds, Mitchell Collins 3-27 yds, Mason Edwards 2-18 yds, Quincy Carnachan 1-11 yds, Holden Ryan 0-0. W, Jay Pipher 7-141 yds, TD; Jake Vanhouten 4-98 yds, TD; Nate Delill 2-64 yds, Isaiah Bretz 3-10 yds, TD; Connor Stotler 0-0, Carter George 0-0.