Hounds can't let off gas vs No. 9 Mt. Vernon

FORT MADISON – The Bloodhounds football team is off to its best start in several years, but Coach Derek Doherty said the Hounds still haven’t seen their best yet.
The Hounds are coming off a 28-14 win over Central Lee on Friday night. The win moves Fort Madison to 2-1 sandwiching the two wins around a second half break down against Jayden Nanthan and the West Burlington Falcons. Fort Madison held a one-point lead at the half in that game, but were held scoreless in the second half.
Doherty said he saw glimpses of that Friday in the win over Central Lee.
“We gotta fight through that, especially with district play coming - and before that Mount Vernon,” he said
“They're gonna play four quarters of football - that's just how they're bred. So, we've got to figure that out.  We've had some honest meetings this week and talked about that. It's mental growth for us at this point.”
He said the Hounds have been backing off the gas and being a little complacent in learning how to play four quarters of football.
The Mustangs come into town after falling to Class 3A’s No. 1 team Solon 41-9. But Doherty said Mt. Vernon is one of the state’s legacy programs and they’ll be hunting legitimacy this week in Fort Madison.
“They know that they're a top tier program and they're not going to let that (loss) define them, so they're going to be looking to bounce back without a doubt. They're just really well coached and those kids aren't going to tuck their tails and be in their feels. They’re about production, and they're about the process, and that's why they've been a good program for so many years.”
The Mustangs feature a dual quarterback threat with a couple juniors rotating into the offense in Noah Olson and Easton Reasland. The two have combined for nine touchdowns (5/4) and senior Jacob Yock out of the backfield has 350 yards on 64 carries for 5.5 yards per touch.
“It’s kind of cool how they do it. They feel like they've got a quarterback that can do certain things when they're looking to do certain things and they can bring in another guy when they're wanting to do some other things,” he said.
“You gotta make sure that your gap sound and everybody's doing their job to even be in the fight. We kind of ran into that problem again on Friday against Central Lee. When we went rogue we struggled and when we did what we needed to do I felt like we were shutting down the things that they were trying to do.”
Mt. Vernon has a high personnel profile on defense with more than 16 kids recording at least two tackles this year.

Doherty said that speaks to the program that they would have more than 16 kids who they are willing to put on the field in any given circumstance.
“I think that that's a major difference in a lot of the programs like the Mt. Vernons and the Solons versus a lot of schools in our area. They've go two and three deep that they trust out there,” Doherty said.
“That's something we're building towards and we've been pushing for for eight years now.”
Fort Madison's Owen Huffman is settling in nicely at quarterback for the Hounds and will certainly get some more growth Friday night as he tries to pick apart the 3A No. 9 Mustangs. Doherty said Huffman, who has five TDs against one pick and has thrown for 400 yards this year, still is learning the position and growing week to week.
“He committed to this last year. He was 100% in and said it was OK if it ended up not being him. He just wanted to be out there for the team. Owen just seems to keep growing and growing. The mental maturity of him is quite impressive and he’s fun to coach."
Another positive for the Hounds has been Mo Thacher out of the backfield. Thacher has already surpassed 500 yards and has a shot at becoming the Hounds first 1,000-yard rusher since Alex Gully in 2017.
“He's reading things really well and he's understanding where the runs are supposed to go now. It was really hard to convince him early on that the run path has to be specific. But he spent a lot of time studying in the offseason and really created awareness of what he needs to do and he's made those changes.”
Those successes obviously start up front over the ball and Doherty said the Hounds offensive and defensive lines have been doing a great job with a bigger sense of urgency this year.
“We're not just putting bodies on bodies - I mean we’re driving guys. I think it was early on in our first series last week Ren Watson drives a guy 20 yards downfield and pancakes him, and that’s something that we didn't have last year. We just didn't understand it and this year there's a lot more urgency up front. We’re going to face a really good team this week and I’m just excited to see how we stack up,” Doherty said.
Liam Prier and Marshall Heitmann have anchored the Hounds defense at the linebacker spot, but sophomore Jayden Cratton, who was all-district last year, leads the team in tackles with 17. Doherty said the Hounds really don’t want a d-back leading the team in tackles, but Cratton’s discipline is getting better and better.
“He gets his hand caught in the cookie jar every once in a while, and when that works out for you. you look really good. Other times you don't, but it's a lot less this year,” Doherty said.
“Last year he was biting on things that he knew instinctively he shouldn’t, but it was too tempting. And this year just his discipline has been better and his tackling has come a long ways.”
The Hounds and Mustangs kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Jim Youel Field at Richmond Stadium.