Fort Madison erupts in win over Burlington

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BY JOHN BOHNENKAMP
PCC SPORTS

FORT MADISON - Fort Madison High School’s defense wanted the shutout.

But Friday’s 28-6 win over Burlington at Richmond Stadium was more than good enough.

“We were so close (to the shutout), but we just couldn’t get it,” said junior Will Larson, whose big night on both sides of the ball helped the Bloodhounds (3-1) get the victory.

“It feels good. We knew we could do this. We have a defense where everybody does their job.”

“It would have been nice to have a zero up there,” Fort Madison coach Derek Doherty said. “It didn’t happen. But we still played hard.

“This was a great win for us.”

Burlington (1-3) didn’t score until the fourth quarter, when D.J. Pugh scored on a 3-yard run on fourth down.

Until then, the Bloodhound defense was in command, with three interceptions and a fumble recovery to stop the Grayhounds.

“It was just a roller-coaster game,” Doherty said. “We did a great job of fighting through some adversity.”

The margin of victory could have been larger — the Bloodhounds had two touchdowns called back because of penalties.

“We have to sharpen this penalty stuff up, no matter how we feel about it — good call, bad call,” Doherty said. “We can’t be in those situations, and that’s on me. We have to fix that. If we do that, I think we’re a good football team.”

Larson threw for all four of Fort Madison’s touchdowns — two each to Quentin Schneider and Parker Denning.

Larson threw a 14-yard pass to Schneider for the first score on Fort Madison’s opening possession after an interception. He added a second-quarter 2-yard TD pass to Denning, then threw a 9-yarder to him in the third. A 63-yard TD pass to Schneider later in the third quarter closed Fort Madison’s scoring.

Larson threw for 243 yards and added 79 rushing yards on just five carries.

“He’s starting to develop into an RPO quarterback,” Doherty said. “He’s starting to see things, he’s understanding the offense better and better every week. He’s a film-study guy. We’re really happy with the progress he’s making.”

Fort Madison had 395 yards of offense. Schneider had 129 receiving yards. Calem MacLearn had 60 rushing yards.

Burlington had 261 yards of offense. Trey King rushed for 101 yards.

“We came out, we had the energy, effort and attitude,” Larson said. “That’s what they preach to us. And we knew we could get the win.”

Fort Madison opens Class 3A District 6 play at Solon next Friday.

“It will be the same kind of week for us,” Larson said. “Just keep playing the way we’ve been playing.”

Romeo Maestro led the Hounds on defense again with nine tackles, five solo. Larson and Tate Johnson both had interceptions for Fort Madison.

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