Hound boys out to quick start in SEC

FORT MADISON – It’s been close to a dozen years since Fort Madison head boys' soccer coach Kevin Wellman has had a couple freshmen anchoring his offense.
But for now, the science of it is working and the chemistry is a go as the Bloodhounds moved to 4-0-1 on the year and 3-0 in the Southeast Conference with a 4-0 win over Burlington at the Baxter Sports Complex Thursday night.
Freshman Jonah Tackett had two goals to open the scoring and Connor Horn fired in two more all in the first half, while keeper Keelynd Ross preserved the shutout in the net.
“They’re having fun at practice. They’re working hard at practice. They’re working hard for each other, and the instructions I’m giving them, they’re taking and running with. It’s all chemistry right now and it’s fantastic,” Wellman said.
The last time the Southeast foes faced off was on May 5 of last year and the Grayhounds walked away with the 4-0 win and, for the first 12 minutes, it looked as though a donnybrook was in order.
Burlington fired the first shot about three minutes in but it went high over the goal. The Bloodhounds' Jonah Santiago would fire a shot at Burlington keeper Caleb Mennen about three minutes later, but it, too, sailed high.
Fort Madison would fire off five more shots on goal in the next five minutes, maintaining control on the Bloodhound half of the pitch. But it wasn’t until Tackett scored at the 14:05 mark that someone actually found the back of the net. The shot came on a nice kickout from Ross from the net that carried over everyone and landed just off Tackett’s shoulder in the middle front of the Bloodhound set. Tackett took the ball from there and fired off a 15-footer that sailed past Mennen for the 1-0 lead.
Tackett would just miss high on a shot on goal about two minutes later, but then would score on a nice through ball where he weaved between two defenders to get a shot up the middle for a 2-0 lead.
Horn gave the Hounds a 3-0 lead just 30 seconds later when a floater in from the left side found the right side of the net. The junior would blast another shot from about 20-feet down the middle to set the final score with two minutes left in the first half.
Tackett and freshman teammate Jack Ragar, both of whom have just come off successful basketball campaigns where they each started varsity, have quickly become dominant midfielders and changed the dynamic of Wellman’s squad.
“It’s been nice. Last year we lost our centerback and we lost Henry Graham our best offensive player and we knew that would be a hole this year. I can’t say that Tackett yet is our Henry Graham, but Tackett and Jack together are filling that void,” Wellman said.

“Plus our chemistry and our game has changed considerably. We have a much stronger midfield and we are confident passing the ball around the midfield. We’re not scoring a lot of goals, but we’re having control of the game. It’s been fun so far.”
Wellman said he believes the team will even get better as they continue to learn about each other and work with new faces in key places.
Ragar said the team played a lot in the summer together and there has been some team bonding that has been paying off. He said basketball helps with the running and the bursts needed at midfield, but he said working the plan is the same as hoops.
“It’s similar, there’s a lot of running, especially at midfield. So that helps keep the pace and then it’s just trying to feed the open guy, find open teammates, just like in basketball,” Ragar said.
He said the upperclassmen have accepted them well.
“Not a lot of freshmen have done this, but I feel like my teammates trust us to step into this position,” he said.
Tackett said he, too, feels accepted in the role he’s playing and that makes things easier on the field.
“They accept us, for sure, and trust both of us to do what we do,” Tackett said. “We're both taking small steps, and if we don’t have a great half or a few minutes or whatever, they’re still going to send us balls and we’re going to do our thing.”
He said soccer is a bit more mental than basketball and more physical.
“It’s a longer field and you’re sprinting more and it’s physical. But soccer is even more of a team game because there are so many people out there and everything’s moving so fast.”
The Hounds are off just a day and then they host the Fort Madison Invitational with Davenport West and North coming to town along with Keokuk and Mediapolis. The Hounds start with North at 9 a.m. and then Mediapolis at 12:30. The jayvee squad also plays two games in the tournament.