FORT MADISON - Fort Madison’s boys soccer team got a lesson in quickness from Davenport North on Saturday, and it’s an education coach Kevin Wellman hopes helps his team.
The Wildcats took a 4-1 win at the Baxter Athletic Complex by taking control of the match with three second-half goals. But they were the type of team the Bloodhounds could see late in a postseason run, and learning from this match could make a difference.
“Today was good,” Wellman said. “I thought we played well. We were right there with them.”
The Bloodhounds (4-2) are at a busy point in their schedule — they’ll play at Washington on Monday in a battle for the Southeast Conference lead to
finish a stretch of five matches in eight days.
“My guys are starting to get a little bit fatigued, a little banged up,” Wellman said. “We get Washington on Monday, they’re a good team, it’s a long bus trip. A lot of things staring down the barrel at us.”
That’s why he wanted his team to take something away from Saturday’s match, and the Bloodhounds played well enough to be competitive, but the Wildcats (3-2) had the advantage.
“We talked about that a little bit, we needed to mark up quicker, not get caught watching the ball,” Wellman said. “But again, this was a good opportunity to recognize those things, and now work on them.
“There were a couple of times they ran the ball down the field. But it was their quickness — their first step with the ball, first step without the ball.”
Fort Madison struck first three minutes into the match, when Leif Boeding got past North’s goalkeeper and knocked in a goal to send an early statement.
North tied the match 13 minutes later when Malachi Thornburg scored off a crossing pass from Shukur Alallaf.
The Wildcats then gained control in the second half. Reese Green scored 2 ½ minutes into the half, then Javier Alvarado put North up 3-1 with a goal at the 30:06 mark.Fort Madison had two scoring opportunities midway through the half, but couldn’t convert.
“We had a couple of opportunities there where we were a tiny bit slow on,” Wellman said. “We weren’t able to get the shot in. If we put those away, they wouldn’t have put us up, but they would have put us in the game. And goals always energize everyone.”
Alallaf closed the scoring with a goal with 1:37 left.
Fort Madison keeper Conner Gehling had nine saves.
“Good athletes, good soccer players, smart soccer players,” Wellman said of the Wildcats. “But again, we played pretty good with them. I’m happy with what we did, but understand we’ve got some things to work on. We’ll hopefully be better when we play a high-level team, which is Monday.”
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