FM looking at goals - not outcome - in final game

FORT MADISON – With the last game of the season just 24 hours away, the Fort Madison Bloodhounds are focusing on performance and not outcomes.
While the Hounds are still looking for their first win of the year, and came within a sniff of that last week against Mt. Pleasant, Head Coach Derek Doherty wants goals accomplished and a win will take care of itself.
“We, of course, are going to put our best team out there. I know it's Senior Night. We’ve got a group of seniors that invested a lot of time, and we owe it to them to put the best team out there,” Doherty said.
“With that being said, we’re going to chase our goals – not necessarily to win. That may sound crazy, but we are team-specific to goals, and if you can check those off, you have a good chance to win. We’re going to go about that the same way.”
The Hounds take on Washington (5-3) on Friday night’s Bloodhound Senior Night. Fort Madison lost on a last-second field goal last week to perennial rival Mt. Pleasant in what could have been the first win of the season.
That isn’t lost on Doherty, but he said he refuses to focus on the outcomes, but building a program that will eventually bring about the desired results.
The Demons’ Logan McDole, a senior who has more than 1,000 yards on the season through the air and 11 touchdowns, also has five picks. He’s also scored five times on the ground averaging about 3.5 yards per carry.
Junior Kael Williams is the preferred back with 463 yards and six touchdowns. Senior Mason Morgan has over 400 yards receiving with three touchdowns. Williams also has three touchdowns on catches out of the backfield.
“Washington, they’re good. Like a typical Washington team, these kids play with their hair on fire. They’ve got a good line. I knew that this summer. They’re big up front and move very well,” Doherty said.
Fort Madison counters with a front line that’s given up some yards this year, anchored by Justin Maitner on the end of the line and Aaron Warner in the middle. Seniors Brody Cashman, Marcus Guzman, Tristan Marshall, and Noah Swigart have also been active on defense and will be looking to get one win in their final Friday night.
Doherty said that’s been the message this week.
“Coach Cullen told them for many of you, this is your last Friday night ever. For some, it’s your last football game. What are you going to do with it?” Doherty asked.

“The program means a lot to a lot of these kids, and we have to continue to move forward. That’s a tough conversation to tell seniors. Us coaches, we’ll have more.”
The Hounds will be counting again on Guzman as signal caller to control the offense and try to get things going on that side of the ball. Guzman has 740 yards passing and three touchdowns, but he’s thrown 11 picks on the season. The senior also has the bulk of the carries over the eight games with 622 yards and 10 scores.
Fort Madison has been turning to Tristan Marshall and Mo Thacher to give Guzman a break, but both are seeing less than 10 carries a game.
In the Mt. Pleasant game last week, he said the Bloodhounds decided to play football against a pretty good Panther team.
“We hung close with a good football team, and we gave ourselves a chance to win,” he said. “The outcome hurts and I know it sounds crazy, but I’m glad it hurt because that tells me it still has meaning to these kids,” he said.
“For some, or a even a lot of people, I’m judged by the outcome. Personally, we don’t focus on that. We focus on how we play. I know we have potential and good football players, and when we put it together, it’s going to be good.”
The Hounds were tinkering with freshman Stefan Berlett at QB trying to get Guzman out where he could get some air and open space. Doherty said that was an issue of matchups.
“We’re looking every week for what in our scheme gives us the best opportunity to chase goals. Steph’s ready - that kid wants to play, and we love that competitive spirit in him. But we went back to Marcus last week, and had some guys that had big plays,” he said.
“I think our kids understand the program. They are program-first kids. I love that about them. The seniors that don’t play a whole bunch work their butts off and then they put the team first.”
He said with the curtain coming down on the season, it’s been a tough year.
“It's been rough. We have a very high standard, and I don’t feel like I’m getting these guys to maximize their potential. It's haunted me over the past several weeks. I’m hell bent on changes and fixing things. There’s a lot of pieces to it, and I’ve been doing my job reaching out to kids, and we're going to work like hell to keep this from happening again,” he said.
“If you’re just a bad football team, then OK. We’re not a bad football team.”