Fort Madison has off night in loss to BHS

FORT MADISON – It just wasn’t the Hounds’ night.
Fort Madison Head Coach Kevin Wellman didn’t have a lot to say other than that after the Bloodhounds dropped a crucial Southeast Conference matchup with Burlington 4-0 Monday night at Baxter Sports Complex.
“We had a lot of things that we didn't do well. We didn't connect passes - we chose to go backward more than we chose to go forward,” Wellman said.
“We didn't have a lot of awareness to see when we should turn to go forward. It was just a really off night in a lot of different ways.”
The Grayhounds came into the game 1-7-2 on the season and 1-3-1 in the conference, while Fort Madison was a game back of front-runner Mt. Pleasant at 4-1-0 and looking to keep the pressure on the Panthers.
A defensive battle ensued in the first half where the teams battled to a 0-0 tie. The Grayhounds fired an early shot just 35 seconds into the match that struck the upper cross bar and narrowly missed going in. Fort Madison would get two shots on goal in the first half, the first by senior Henry Graham and then another with about nine minutes left by Jonah Santiago that went center high. At the 15:25 mark Graham had another chance at scoring and bent a free kick around a 3-man wall but right into the waiting arms of the Grayhounds' keeper.
At the half, Wellman put a charge into the Bloodhounds and asked for a goal within the first eight minutes. He didn’t get a goal the whole evening.

Burlington on the other hand had another shot on goal quick off the whistle with a blast that went high and right over Keelynd Ross’ head in the net.
They would get another shot on goal about a minute later that Ross was able to gobble up. However, just a minute later, the odds broke in BHS’ favor and a shot got into the net past Ross who got caught leaning to the left for a 1-0 lead.
Burlington would score again about five minutes later on a shot that went across the front of the goal and snuck into the back left corner for a 2-0 lead. The Grayhounds would get all the momentum and two more shots on goal that were both denied by Ross, but at 19:41, with Ross moving to his right, BHS blasted a shot across to the right past Ross who lost his footing trying to cut the angle.
Burlington would add a final goal at 11:58 as Fort Madison had trouble getting anything comprehensive going on offense with the Grayhounds regularly breaking up pressure from Fort Madison after two to three passes on the Bloodhounds' side of the field.
Wellman said he’s pretty frustrated with the Hounds' inability to fix some simple things to control the game a little more.
“In the first half, our defenders turned the ball inside instead of outside several times. That sounds simple as heck and, if we do that, then they don't have as many looks at the goal,” Wellman said.
“And that was in the first half and they didn't score in the first half, but it's kind of a momentum thing, right?” Some of the players talked about how we didn't do a very good job of applying pressure to their midfielders into their attacking third and that's just a matter of paying attention to where you are on the field and staying home to where you're in a position to do that properly.  Something again pretty simple to fix.”
The Bloodhounds travel to the Washington Wellness Center on Thursday and try to get the season back on track. Fort Madison has dropped four of their last five, including going 1-2 against Southeast Conference foes during the stretch.