Hounds ousted at North Scott

ELDRIDGE — It didn’t take long for North Scott’s boys soccer team to send a message to Fort Madison in Wednesday’s Class 3A Substate 5 semifinal.
And when the Bloodhounds tried to answer and just missed, the Lancers stayed in control.
North Scott ended Fort Madison’s season with an 11-1 win, sending the Lancers into Friday’s final at Davenport North.
“They outplayed us,” Fort Madison coach Kevin Wellman said. “Obviously the score shows that, but sometimes the score doesn’t show how good someone is. That wasn’t the case here — they played quite good.”
It took 4 1/2 minutes for the Lancers to get their first goal, but twice over the next six minutes Fort Madison had a chance to tie the match. Jonah Tackett was able to get through North Scott’s defense, but both of his shots went over the net. After North Scott scored with 27:51 left in the first half for a 2-0 lead, Hunter Wiegand and Tackett had shots on goal that missed.
“We came close,” Wellman said. “At that time, if we could have gotten a goal or two, I would have thought the momentum changes and maybe we get control of the game. But knowing what I know now, maybe they don’t 10-goal us, but they still win.

“Tackett had a couple of really good shots. Their goalkeeper was really good, he came out on those two shots and made just enough of a play to keep us out of the goal for quite a while.
Fort Madison was only down 4-1 at halftime after Jack Ragar’s goal with 8:10 to play in the first half, but four North Scott goals in the first 11 ½ minutes of the second half sealed the win for the Lancers.
“Their corner kicks were really good,” Wellman said. “They also had really good timing between their midfields and their forwards — they had timing on the pass and the forwards were already at speed getting behind our defense. They did that a few times as well.
“That kind of thing shows they play a lot of soccer, and they play a lot of soccer together, to have that chemistry. They had some shots from quite a ways out that fell for them. Do I say there was some luck with those? That takes away from their players, and sometimes you make your own luck, and they made some good shots.”
Fort Madison finished the season with a 9-5-4 overall record. The Bloodhounds were 7-2-1 in the Southeast Conference, finishing second behind Mount Pleasant.
“Nothing to be ashamed about,” Wellman said. “We had four ties that, gosh, just a little bit of a luck, we turn all of those into wins, we finish 13-5. There were a couple of conference games I would have liked to have done again — the game at home against Fairfield (a 2-1 loss), the game at Mount Pleasant (a 6-0 defeat) and the home game against Mount Pleasant (a 3-3 tie) when we had a two-goal lead and lost it.
“Overall, the wins and losses look the way they look. But the coaching staff said, repeatedly, all season long, how much fun this team was to be around. These boys were really fun to be around at all times. We’ll have a banquet here a week from now, and I’ll be able to tell the parents they’re doing a good job, they’re raising their kids right. I’m happy I’ve gotten to hang out with them the last three months.”