CENTERVILLE – It didn’t take the Bloodhounds long to get going in week three and that’s something that made head coach Derek Doherty a bit happier as Fort Madison improved to 3-0 on the year.
Doherty was sullen after the Hounds dropped Centerville 42-6 on Friday night in Centerville. Two of the Big Red were taken to the hospital with injuries, the latter of which seemed to be a bit more severe as Big Red sophomore Grady Stickler was taken away having his head strapped down on a backboard before being placed on the gurney. No injury report was available, but he was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.
“I’m just really worried about that kid,” Doherty said.
The injury took place in the fourth quarter with about three minutes left in the game right before Fort Madison’s Brody Cashman would take the Hounds’ final touchdown in on a pitch pass to the right where he raced to the corner pylon and dived in for the score.
It was Cashman’s second game in a row with a receiving touchdown out of the backfield.
Quarterback Marcus Guzman had by far his best outing of the season throwing the ball. The junior went 30-42 for 319 yards and two touchdowns. He rushed for three more.
Doherty said the Hounds worked in some new things but still have a lot to clean up with Class 3A No. 1 Williamsburg headed into Fort Madison next Friday.
“We’re trying to be creative right now and really find our identity and what works for us. That’s a week-by-week thing,” he said. “We did install some new things this week and we had some success and we’ll try and build from there.”
Fort Madison came out and scored on the first possession on a 13-play, 61-yard drive where Guzman went 6-7 for 45 yards and then bulled in from two yards out for a 7-0 lead with Leif Boeding’s extra point.
But Centerville came right back with quarterback Landon McGrann carrying the ball three of the first four plays for 24 yards and freshman Makoa Kaleponi adding eight more. A fumbled snap on 1-20 cost the Big Red 17 yards and a delay of game penalty added five more to make it 2nd and 29.
After a time out, McGrann hooked up with senior Ryan Sinnott on two consecutive passes just throwing it up to the 6-6 senior to go up and get, which he did for 28 yards. Four plays later, the two would hook up again in the back left corner of the endzone, but the Red would miss the extra point for a 7-6 game.
That’s all the points the Hound defense would give up on the night. Senior Ben Ramatowski locked Sinnott down the rest of the game.
“We wanted to mess them up after that off the line and not allow a free release. That was a great adjustment by Coach Cullen,” Doherty said.
Fort Madison would score on their next possession when Guzman found senior Henry Wiseman in the back right corner for a 14-6 lead.
The Bloodhound defense stifled Centerville for their next two possessions. Fort Madison would get on the board again with 5:50 left in the half when Guzman went in off the right side for a 6-yard score to make it 21-6, capping a 39-yard drive.
The Bloodhounds would get another Guzman rushing touchdown in the third period with just over six-and-a-half minutes left from five yards out. Henry Wiseman would score on a sweep from nine yards out to start the fourth quarter for the Hounds other score.
Hayden Segoviano led the Hounds out of the backfield. The senior had 132 yards receiving in a mix of screens and shovel pitches. He had 11 catches. He also had 48 yards on nine carries on the night.
Segoviano said the quick start and the win help put things into perspective going into next week’s tussle with Williamsburg.
“I think it was our mentality. We’ve been waiting way too long and started slow,” he said. “I think today was finally the day where we wanted to come out and prove to everybody that we can be a dangerous team.
“Next week’s going to be a handful. That’s the No. 1 ranked team, but I think we have the guys and we’ve seen what we can do. If we get things clicking, we can be deadly and dangerous.”
Doherty said it was good to see the Hounds’ offense get going, but he said there’s still work to be done.
“It was nice to know we can put points on the board like we should be doing. But we’ve got a lot to clean up. There are times we look like a circus out there,” he said.
“Winning a football game is always a tough thing, but we don’t want them to be content. We’re trying to teach these guys to have that shark-smelling-blood mentality."
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