Bloodhounds open season with new faces, same standards

FORT MADISON – Fort Madison Head football Coach Derek Doherty may be going through the biggest shuffle in personnel in his six years leading the Bloodhounds.
Not only are the Hounds dealing with the loss of more than a dozen seniors who saw significant playing time last season in District 4, Class 3A action, but he’s also replacing five-year offensive coordinator Justin Menke.
Menke left the squad after celebrating the birth of his second child and will be replaced with Alabama native Dylan Mussleman.
Doherty said he envied how calm and collected Menke was, never getting too high and too low, but he said Mussleman is similar, but has a little more fire and sense of urgency.
“Justin taught and Dylan demands. Dylan’s a smart kid. I’ve learned a lot from him and we talk all the time. When I met him six years ago it was like finding a long lost brother – we are so like-minded,” Doherty said.
“He’s been a great asset to the team.”
Menke called most games from the booth, but Mussleman will be on the sidelines. Doherty said that’s a preference issue and he’s fine with both tendencies.
He said the summer has been spent working out the kinks of the new personnel and it spills onto the field as well.
“We’ve talked in our coaches' groups about how everything’s changed but nothing’s changed -  the faces, the names, and we graduated a really awesome senior class and we lost a couple kids to transfer,” he said.
“It is what it is, but our standards stay the same and that’s the big thing. How we operate inside of Fort Madison football has stayed the same.”
Doherty said the Xs and Os may be different, but the athletes again are buying into the program.
The Hounds scrimmaged again to open the season last Friday night with Mediapolis and his squad isn’t as wide-eyed as they used to be. Fort Madison has scrimmaged with the Bulldogs for the past five years and Doherty said he appreciates that relationship.
The Hounds open the season Friday night with Burlington coming to Jim Youel Field. The Grayhounds and Bloodhounds have developed a strong rivalry with tight games the last three years.
Senior quarterback Marcus Guzman has been an integral part of all three games and will be looking to get Fort Madison off to a good start Friday night.
Guzman has dropped a few pounds to increase speed and take some pressure off joints, but Doherty said he’s getting to understand how to be a better athlete on the field.
“Marcus has made some great changes. He was doing some of his own lifts outside of what we’re doing. He understands the athleticism piece of it. He may not have the muscle mass he had last year, but he’s still an impressive looking kid.”
Guzman threw for just under 1,500 yards last year with eight touchdowns and nine picks. He was also the team’s leading rusher, which is a regular characteristic for the Bloodhound offense. He ran for 536 yards and 13 scores, giving him 21 TDs on the year.
Fort Madison lost its back-up quarterback Caleb Bolander to transfer and they lost a key component of the offensive and defensive line in CJ Arnett, who transferred to a Missouri High School over the summer.

The rest of the offense will be relatively inexperienced, filling the holes left by such names as Aiden Benda, Ike Thacher, Arnett, Teague Smith, Henry Wiseman, Jamarkus Kline, Hayden Segoviano, and others.
But Doherty is high on several newcomers including Noah VanNiewall who has the makings of a monster on the line at 6’3” and listed at 335 lbs.
“If we can get Noah max intent, max effort on every single snap, he’s going to be a problem for other teams. He’s a young guy, only a sophomore. Physically, he’s got it. Mentally if we can get him to stop taking plays off, he’s going to be a problem if we can get him going.”
Justin Maitner will help anchor the Hound line, most of whom will go offense/defense. Doherty said Maitner is one of the fastest kids on the team, and is a wide receiver-turned lineman. Thacher was another skill player that moved into the scrimmage interior and leaves some big shoes to fill. Doherty credits line coach Josh Wykert with finding gold in shallow water.
“We keep saying he makes chicken salad out of chicken crap,” Doherty said. “Not that the kids are that, but we put them in a really tough position. Here’s another skill guy, Josh Wykert, do your best and he comes through.
Doherty also mentioned Chase Allen, another senior that could help stabilize the line of scrimmage on offense and defense. Nolan Lamb, Hunter Cook – another 300 lb. plus lineman, who could also see time.
“We’re not deep at positions. We’re either senior or sophomore, we have a very small junior class, maybe five juniors. And we have some freshmen we’ll put out there," he said.
Senior Triston Marshall will be the featured back as far as that goes, but Fort Madison is known for mixing things up laterally in the backfield and other players such as Brody Cashman, Tateum Schelich, Noah Swigart will see time with the ball.
The Hounds should present a 3-man front on defense, but Doherty said  there will be different looks.
Caden Barnes is also returning and could see time at linebacker with Marshall and in the backfield on offense.
Another sophomore, Marshall Heitmann, is also on Doherty’s radar.
“He’s done everything right. He’s starting to learn to be physical and I think wrestling helped him this year. But he’s starting to bring it and we’re excited about him.”
Henry Graham will handle the kicking duties again this year. The senior was 13/14 in PATs last year platooning with Leif Boeding.
Doherty said the Grayhounds will come again with a big line and try to dominate the line and run the football, but he said he won’t be surprised if Burlington mixes things up more than in years past.
“This is a rivalry, and a friendly rivalry. We knew, for the most part, what we were going to get with them. But they have a new head coach and they will have some new formations,” Doherty said.
The Hounds scouted Burlington’s preseason scrimmage and said the Bloodhound defense needs to be ready for everything.
“We have to be disciplined and play Fort Madison football,” he said. “We’re going to be in a dog fight. That’s the message.”
The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Richmond Stadium.