Hound boys shut out Fairfield

Fort Madison's Henry Graham punches a shot into the goal in the second half of Monday's 4-0 win over Fairfield in the Southeast Conference home opener for the Bloodhounds.

Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

FORT MADISON - Fort Madison’s boys soccer team finally got in its second match of the season.
But business is about to pick up for the Bloodhounds.
The 4-0 win over Fairfield on Monday at the Baxter Sports Complex was the first match for the Bloodhounds (1-0-1 overall, 1-0 Southeast Conference) since the April 1 opener against Williamsburg. Last Thursday’s match at Keokuk was cancelled after the Chiefs’ season was shut down, so all Fort Madison could do was practice and watch video from their opener.
“We remembered how the game was played,” Fort Madison coach Kevin Wellman quipped. “They were, I’m sure, pretty bored last week. But I’ve got to say, they stayed focused for not having a game in so long.”
It took a while, though, for Fort Madison to get its offense going. Henry Graham’s goal at 7:46 of the first half gave the Bloodhounds a 1-0 lead, then Connor Horn scored 3 ½ minutes later to put Fort Madison up 2-0 at halftime.
“I think we started slow,” Wellman said. “We were off a little bit — we missed some headers that were good goal chances, but I think some of that had to do with the wind. So yeah, I think we started slow, but appropriately slow. Because we missed playing an actual game and went so long with just practicing.”
The second half was more like what Wellman expects from his team. Horn scored at the 37:11 mark, and then Graham scored 4 ½ minutes later, knocking in the rebound off a missed shot by Horn.
“We were more calm,” Wellman said. “I mean, we were playing harder, but we were also playing smarter. We were playing calm, bringing the ball down, turning, looking for a good pass. So, yeah, I was, I was happy. I was happy the first half too. But the second half, the whole 40 minutes looked good.”
This, however, is going to be a busy week for the Bloodhounds. They play host to Notre Dame-West Burlington on Tuesday, play at Burlington on Thursday, then get two matches in their tournament on Saturday.
“We go from hardly anything to five games in six days,” Wellman said. “And they’re not easy games. Notre Dame is always tough. Burlington is good, and for whatever reason we don’t play well at Bracewell Stadium. I like it, it’s a neat place, but we don’t play well for whatever reason. And then we’ve got two games on Saturday. So, we’re going to be some tired Bloodhounds.”
The big second-half lead did give Wellman a chance to rest some of his key players.
“I tried to get some guys out of there, just because there’s a lot coming at them,” he said.