Hounds lose squeaker for conference title

The Bloodhounds' Henry Graham (7) fires a shot as Washington's Randy Huertero (16) closes the distance on the play. The Demons would go on to win the match for the Southeast Conference title 1-0 in Fort Madison Wednesday.

Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

FORT MADISON – The Fort Madison Bloodhounds lost their bid for a fourth consecutive conference title by inches.
With nine minutes left in the match, the Washington Demons took a throw in on the left side of the offense about 30 feet wide of the goal. Senior midfielder Isaac Genry lifted a shot into the wind that sneaked in over Bloodhound goalie Conner Gehling’s hands into the top right of the goal for what would prove to be the winning goal as Washington escaped with a 1-0 win and the Southeast Conference title Wednesday at Baxter Sports Complex.
“I guess I don’t ever put it on one particular play. They had a throw in to a teammate we didn’t pressure. If we had pressured him, would he have got the shot off? Would he have been able to spin it off the outside of his foot if we had come out?” Wellman said.
He said the Hounds had opportunities, as well, but couldn’t capitalize due to a very strong back defense of the Demons and senior Randy Huertero.
“They had a strong center-back. Their captain back there, he was strong. He didn’t hardly let anything in behind him, even when we had the ball on our foot,” Wellman said.
“He kept Henry (Graham) and Leif (Boeding) in front of him and maybe we got behind twice. We had a couple balls get to their keeper. He’s a small guy, but he had strong hands and didn’t let anything out. We just didn’t get enough chances mainly because of that center-back.”
Wellman said Graham drew the attention of two and even three defenders when he got the ball near the goal. Graham returned after missing the last two matches with an injury, which Wellman said kept him at about 75%.
“Every time he had the ball, they brought two, possibly three, guys and if he had space to turn and fire a shot, they threw their body at it. They played hard, but our boys played hard, too.”
He said the Demons knew they were close with the Hounds winning in Washington in a penalty kick session.
“We just have to keep upping the ante,” Wellman said.
The Demons had a header just miss at the 14:10 mark of the first half off a corner kick that went just high and got caught up in the top of the net.
After the 0-0 first half, Washington tried to score quickly to open the second but Gehling was able to get a diving save on a shot at the 38-minute mark. Fort Madison’s defense then chased the Demons off for the next 25 minutes, but the Demons returned the favor.
Washington  would get another shot at 9:39 and then would score on the corner kick header at 9:01.
Fort Madison had two corner kicks with less than seven minutes left in the first half, but couldn’t get the ball to drop in to the right spot for a header or rebound shot.
Gehling had four saves on the afternoon.
The Hounds will wrap up the regular season in a match against Class 3A 10th-ranked Newton. Then they will have nine days off until they open post season play, most likely at Washington. The Demons are seeded No. 2 and the Bloodhounds are No. 3 in the 3A Substate 2 bracket. Also in the bracket are North Scott (4), Clinton (5), and Cedar Rapids Xavier (1).
“We told our guys to take whatever was burning from this loss, bury it down, keep it smoldering, and then light it back on fire.”