Hounds find small wins in big loss

MT. VERNON – The word ‘celebrate’ typically wouldn’t find its way into a story about a football teams' 56-0 loss on any given Friday night.
In the Fort Madison Bloodhounds’ loss at No. 4 Mt. Vernon Friday at the Martha Parsons Athletic Complex there wasn’t a lot to celebrate, but the Hounds found a way. Head Coach Derek Doherty said that’s a small part of bringing the Hounds program out of its cyclical infancy.
“I was honest with them after the game. I didn’t look at the scoreboard once, and I still haven’t. I don’t care about the score,” Doherty said afterward.
“We did have some boxes to check here and we'll find out if we did. I thought we had two awesome 4th down stops and we had an interception. Those are small victories and that’s just where we're at right now.”
The game opened with a 72-yard kick-off return for a touchdown, the first game opening TD return the Hounds have allowed in seven years, and the tone was set for the night. Mt. Vernon would put up 49 points in the first half triggering a running clock throughout the second half.
Fort Madison didn’t get close to finding the endzone the entire night but they found a couple sustained drives against a Comets' squad that Doherty said will push for a state championship. And a 4th down stop just before the half became one of the celebrations and a place to ground a Hound team trying to find its way.
That drive started with a short punt on a Hounds’ 4th and 7 that went to the Mt. Vernon 45. Senior Michael Ryan took the first carry 10 yards for a first down, then senior Kellen Haverback hooked up with Maddox Curran for 29 yards down the Hounds sideline for a 1st and goal at the Hounds 6.
Fort Madison wasn’t planning on coming home with a win, but boxes were to be checked and this may have be considered one of those boxes.

Haverback threw incomplete on 1st and goal, and then the Hound front four stuffed Ryan for a one-yard loss on a slash run through the middle. The Comets then tried to stretch things out with a jet screen to Ryan to the left, but Fort Madison sniffed that out and took him out at the 5. Mt. Vernon would try again to get the ball into space with a screen pass but the ball fell incomplete and Fort Madison took over on downs.
They let the clock run out on the half and celebrated the hold against the Comet first team.
“Those small victories - that's where we're at and that's OK,” Doherty said. “You know we've got to focus on those things and I'm really proud of our guys. People are gonna look at the box score and be like 'Oh my God' but you know what, that's one hell of a team that's probably gonna make a push for a state championship.”
“Our kids came out and they fought so, yeah, we’re gonna celebration that. At this point that’s part of program and we’ll learn to get those small wins before we can even think about anything beyond that.”
Another victory that should show up Monday in the film room is in the first quarter down 21-0 with six minutes left in the first quarter. Fort Madison put together a nine-play drive and went from their own 39 into Comets’ territory before fumbling a punt snap that Mt. Vernon turned into a 15-yard TD four plays later.
However, quarterback Stefan Berlett went 3-of-3 in the series to three different receivers including a 7-yard hook-up with Owen Huffman to the right side for a first down. Running back Mo Thacher had 10 yards on three carries all on hard runs up the middle. The sophomore had 56 yards on 20 carries and got into the middle of the Comet defense on several occasions.
Fort Madison finished with 51 yards of total offense on the night and Jonah Santiago led the Hounds in tackles with 3.5.
Fort Madison (1-4) travels to Keokuk to open Class 3A District 4 action Friday night at Calvert Stadium