Doherty watching Hounds' processes this week

FORT MADISON – Fort Madison is looking for their first win in 10 games this Monday at the bowl that is Bracewell Stadium. But Head Coach Derek Doherty isn’t concerned with what the scoreboard says at the end.
“I love to win, and I hate to lose,” he said. “But this is about the process of those 48 minutes.”
The Bloodhounds haven’t won since Oct. 20, 2023, a 21-7 win over Washington at Case Field that vaulted them into the Class 3A playoffs. Fort Madison then lost 50-7 in the first round to Solon and haven’t won since.
They’re looking to get things back on track this Friday when they open the non-district schedule at the Grayhounds' place.
BHS is coming off a 2-7 year in a tough 4A district under 2nd-year head coach Jordan Webb. Doherty said the Grayhounds are typically big and fast.
“They seem to be the normal Burlington team. They're huge, they've got some some big dudes in there. They’re fast and you know they're going to be physical, and I think they're really excited about this group of kids that they have.
The Grayhounds have 14 seniors, and the rest of the posted roster is juniors. There are no freshmen or sophomores listed as of Week 1.
That’s why the Bloodhounds, who come into the game with very little Friday night experience, are banking on the process.
“I've told our kids, and I'm dead serious when I say this - it's not coach speak, I am 100% process focused. I'm not outcome focused.” Doherty said.
Those processes on offense will start with sophomore QB Stef Berlett and an inexperienced backfield anchored by Moses Thacher and senior Eric Cornelis. The offensive line is bigger and has been productive in the preseason.
“There is potential there. We just have to commit to doing the right thing. But we’ve been preaching that here for the last several years. And we’ve won a lot of football games, but then last year happened and here we don’t reload guys like a Mt. Vernon or a Solon,” Doherty said.

“I’ve told our guys several times this week, I don’t care about the scoreboard, I care about how we play the game. Some of the biggest butt-chewings I’ve given were after games we won but didn’t play the game the right way. I guess with our rawness, we can reinstate that culture and that's what we're working really hard on.”
The Grayhounds downed Fort Madison at Jim Youel Field last year 35-7 with Fort Madison scoring a late-game touchdown, and Doherty is looking for another test to start the year.
He said the Bloodhounds had a good week of practice after Friday’s annual scrimmage with Mediapolis. Doherty said they saw some things on film that they didn’t like, and the players didn’t like, but they’ve made some adjustments over the past week, while still having decisions to make.
“We still have position battles going on,” he said.  “We've got a handful of receivers out there and nobody's really just separated themselves from the others which is, you know, a positive and a negative. The positive is like we're going to have guys that we can put in, it's not like we have to have this kid or that kid all the time. I think that they have really high potential, but again we're gonna have to play games to find out are they just good in practice or are they good in games.”
With Burlington’s size and experience, the Bloodhounds will have to be disciplined in the process on the defensive side of the ball.
Marshall Heitman and Nolan Lamb will anchor the middle of the defense at linebacker. Heitman has the only real Friday night playing time and was sixth on the team in tackles last year. Connor Horn will be the veteran in the secondary and sophomore Ren Watson will be a different presence at the end of the line.
Markus Holbert and Ahkeil Wilkerson will anchor the line with Cal Hennings.
Others that could see some time in special sets are Zeke Groves and Aurelio Jaciunde.
Doherty said he has confidence putting some of these other names in the game.
“I 100% feel comfortable putting either one of those guys in and we might mix it up,” he said. “I mean, again, we're raw and you might see one of them one series and another one another series and it has nothing to do with playing bad, it could just be a change of pace and getting some looks from different athletes.”
He also mentioned Jordan Thompson, who is a bigger body like Watson, would get in on some rotations.
“So we might look a little bit different than we have in the past,” he said.