Hounds find small wins in big loss

SOLON – There were a few wins  the Hounds were able to take away from Friday’s season ending loss to Class 3A’s top team in undefeated Solon.
The Hounds lost 55-6 to end the season at 3-6 overall and 1-4 in 3A District 4 play. Solon will head into the playoffs next week as the top ranked team in 3A, while the Hounds will go home and start thinking about next year.
Fort Madison’s only score came on a season-best 94-yard kick-off return for a touchdown from Jayden Cratton. Cratton caught the ball at the six to start the third quarter and faked a pitch to Ryker Peters going to the right. The Spartans bit on the fake and Cratton cut to the left in front of the Bloodhound sideline, and raced all the way almost untouched to the endzone.
But the Hounds were too far behind to build any real momentum.
So the effort turned to getting the ball to junior tailback Mo Thacher who came into the game needing about 50 yards to break the Hounds’ single season rushing record. Thacher finished with 89 yards about half of which came on the Hounds’ final drive with a running clock that ended at the Solon 12.
“We talked about that. We went hurry up and were trying to get Mo that record because I think he’s deserving of it and so did the other coaches,” said Head Coach Derek Doherty.
“I think that shows a lot about our guys. They were dumping it and they were tired in that final drive, but they wanted to make sure Mo got it because that’s their record, too.”
Solon opened the scoring and set the tone very quickly. Fort Madison won the toss and deferred to the Spartans to start the game. The Spartans returned the kick to their own 45 and then on the very first play from scrimmage, quarterback Maddox Kelley took off on a delayed keeper, danced through the left side of the Hounds defense and then took off for a 55-yard touchdown run.
Solon would score on the first play of their next possession as well. After forcing a Fort Madison punt that was deflected and recovered at the Hounds 26, Kaden Hoeper raced right on a flip pass and scored down the Solon sideline for a 14-0 lead.

Solon would score on their next four possessions including another Kelley run from 27 yards out, a Kelley 22-yard pass play to senior Cody Milliman, a Kelley pass to Hoeper from 43 yards out down the middle seam, and another Kelley 32-yard touchdown pass three seconds left in the first half for a 42-0 lead with a running clock.
Fort Madison had a nice drive prior to the final Solon score going 53 yards on 14 plays including as pass from Owen Huffman to Max Jones who pulled it in with one-hand over the middle for a 14-yard gain. The Bloodhounds would eventually turn the ball over on downs triggering the final score of the first half.
The second half screamed by with a running clock the whole half. Solon would score twice in the second half, but a fumble off a high snap gave way to a final drive that gave Thacher the yardage he needed to set the Bloodhound record with 1,412 yards on the ground.
Doherty said the Hounds are resetting the culture and that started with this year's seniors who helped usher in the first win for Fort Madison in two years.
“This was a group of guys that decided last year in November that they were going to do things right. You see the improvements in this team,” he said.
“Me as a coach, if this is what we’re trying to turn into, this is a football factory up here. The differences between a program and an activity are huge. I think we’ve got a great group of kids coming that are starting to understand that. We had a great group of seniors that did a nice job of resetting our culture.”
He said more meaning comes in some of the smaller things like Thacher’s record and the contributions of unfamiliare players.
“Some of those meaningful things are kids like Jonah Santiago who’s a soccer player who just came out for football And he’s in tears right now. It shows how meaningful it is to him and as a coach I’m proud of that. A guy that gives it a try and then falls in love with it,” Doherty said.
Huffman finished 5-of-16 for 28 yards and had three carries for 13 yards. Thacher had 89 yards on 26 carries, while Liam Prier led the Hounds with six tackles. Ren Watson had four.