Hounds turn tables on Burlington

FORT MADISON - Some will say Gerard "GJ" Lozano was an angel on the Bloodhounds' shoulders Friday night.

Lozano, a long-time sports booster and father of senior Matteo Lozano, very well could have been looking down with his initials freshly painted on Jim Youel Field, as the night belonged to the Fort Madison Bloodhounds.

The Hounds shook off back-to-back losses to knock off the Burlington Grayhounds 28-24 in the Class 4A District 3 regular season finale and all but locked up a post-season spot.

The night came down to a final drive with Hounds down 24-21 with 5:14 left on the clock, eerily reminiscent to last year's loss when Burlington scored on their final possession to knock the Bloodhounds out of the playoffs.

But this story had a different ending.

Burlington had just scored on a Caden Schisel 1-yard run to take a 24-21 lead. The kickoff went to the right sideline and the Hounds let it bounce, thinking it would go out of bounds, but it stayed in and went into the endzone for a touchback.

Fort Madison then turned to Hayden Segoviano, who carried five of the next seven plays with a couple of Aidan Boyer completions in the mix. Segoviano would rack up 25 yards on the seven carries including two first downs to get Fort Madison to their own 45.

Boyer would dump a bubble screen to Henry Wiseman for another seven yards and then hit Kane Williams for three. After a false start penalty moved the Hounds to 1st and 15, Boyer hooked up again with Wiseman for eight yards for a 2nd and 7 at the Burlington 28.

The Hounds would stay with the passing attack and Boyer hit Leif Boeding for five more to the 22. On 3rd and 2 with :33 left on the clock, Boyer then found Wiseman again alone in the back of the west endzone for the winning touchdown.

"I saw the safety bite on Kane (Williams) and I knew I had to throw it right then or it would have been picked. I just want to thank God for that," Boyer said.

Boyer had struggled early on connecting on the routes down field, throwing one pick and couple others that bounced out of Grayhound defenders' hands.

But Head Coach Derek Doherty said the last series was all about Boyer's fortitude and the Hounds' determination.

"Guts, pure guts," Doherty said. "(Boyer) and I had a conversation on the sideline about why some of those earlier balls were sailing and he did a great job of flushing it. Ultra-competitors do that – and he did that."

Fort Madison ran senior Tanner Settles into the kickoff team and the move produced huge dividends as Settles wrapped up the Grayhounds kicker at the BHS 25.

"I was like, I need to get out there and make that tackle and I did. They weren't keeping me off the field," Settles said.

"I knew we could win all along. This week of practice was way different than the other weeks. This is just crazy. I don't know – it's unreal."

The night started ominously as BHS scored the first two touchdowns in the first quarter and kept the Bloodhounds from even having a first quarter possession.

The Hounds took the opening kickoff back to the their own 27 and then went 73 yards on nine plays with Schisel going in from nine yards out.

The ensuing kick was a looper just behind Fort Madison's front line, and bounced around until recovered by BHS at their own 46.

Fort Madison's defense got stingy on the drive, but the Grayhounds running game showed why they have more than 2,600 yards on the year. They ran 14 plays all on the ground and ended up with Dimitri Donald scoring from a yard out for a 14-0 lead four seconds into the second quarter.

After an offside penalty on the kickoff, FM took over at the 48 and ushered in 16-play 59-yard scoring drive while mixing in the screens and runs with Wiseman corraling three passes and Teague Smith handling the workload out of the backfield.

Boyer would carry it in from the one to cut the lead in half 14-7 with 4:44 left in the half.

Fort Madison would force a 4-and-out and would take over with 2:37 left, but an 8-play drive would end up in a punt and the Grayhounds would run out the clock on the half with the Bloodhounds only getting two possessions in the half.

Fort Madison received the second half kick, but Boyer would throw a pick to Burlington's Nolan Simpson on the second play of the drive.

The Bloodhound defense would step up and hold BHS to a 25-yard field goal and 17-7 lead.

Neither team would score again as the defenses started to dictate play. Fort Madison would have a strong drive stalled at their own 42 when Smith's 21-yard run to the Fort Madison 22 was nullified by an illegal block call and a sideline penalty.

But the Hound defense went crazy after FM turned the ball over on downs and shut the vaunted BHS offense down with a 4-and-out on the next possession.

Then after Fort Madison went 4-and-out, Burlington had the ball deep at their own 16 and Kane Williams stripped the ball on a sweep left. Brody Cashman chased the ball down and recovered it at the Burlington 2, where Smith would finish it off with a plunge on the next snap to cut the lead to 17-14.

With the momentum clearly shifting in the Hounds direction, the Hounds got a huge tackle for loss on Schisel with Cory Arnette and Settles chasing him down.

The Grayhounds tried a fake punt that would have yielded a first down, but an illegal shift was called on the play and BHS was forced to punt.

Fort Madison would take over at the 47, and eight plays later with Segoviano and Smith taking turns pounding the front four of the Grayhounds, Smith went in from two yards out on 2nd and 1 to give Fort Madison its first lead at 20-17.

On Burlington's next possession, the Grayhounds were 1st and 10 at their own 47 before Schisel ripped off a 41-yard run down the right side to the six. Three plays later he would take it in to give Burlington the lead again at 24-21, setting up the Hounds' final push for the win.

"Truthfully, I think it was a little bit of what they did to us last year. We wanted to be the last one with the ball," said offensive coordinator Justin Menke.

"We didn't want them to get the ball back and they did, but we didn't want them to have any time with it."

Defensive coordinator Jason Crooks said there wasn't a lot of adjusting done, but reminded the Hounds that being down seven points was something they had overcome many times during the year.

"That was a big focus. They weren't having a lot of energy, but they came out and started wearing them down and busting through some holes."

Crooks credited the other Hounds coaches with some adjustments and for working the kids during the week against the Grayhounds' running attack.

Boyer, who was in tears after hugging other players in the scrum following the game, said the win was a relief.

"It's a tremendous relief. I gotta enjoy every second of it, because I'm a senior and this could have been one of my last games. I'm glad it turned out the way it did," he said.

Doherty said a good program was put in place during the week and the Hounds believed in it.

"A huge shout-out to Coach Menke and Coach Crooks for their game plans. It was coached up really well all this week," Doherty said.

"It wasn't a ton of adjustments, it was believing in the system and doing what you need to do. And they locked it in and found a way.

"It feels really good. That's another good Burlington team again and it's kind of crazy how things changed and were almost identical to last year, but reversed."

Doherty said Lozano's presence was felt all within the players, the staff and the school.

"I'll be honest – it's been a while since I've cried and I've done quite a bit this week. That was for him. Matteo had a lights-out game and that was for GJ."

Matteo said it was a tough week for him, but he never considered not putting the pads on.

"I had a lot of people around me supporting me," Lozano said. "I think everyone tried to stay away from it as much as possible. There was a lot of grief, but they all supported me through it.

"(Dad) gave me everything and this was the biggest game of my life. I put everything out there and did it all for him."

Boyer finished with 168 yards and a TD on 18 of 30 passing. Wiseman had 107 yards and the game-winning catch to go along with nine other receptions.

Segoviano had 47 yards on 10 carries and Smith had 27 yards on 10 carries and two TDs. Segoviano also had 9.5 tackles. Settles led the Hounds with 11.5 tackles including four tackles for loss. Smith and Daniel Sokolik each had six tackles.

Playoff pairings for Class 4A will be released on Saturday, typically before noon.

Fort Madison is one of the smallest schools in 4A with a realignment set for next year, but the Hounds were ranked 11th in the state in RPI entering Friday night's regular season finale.

In 4A there are six districts, with the top two teams in each district automatically qualifying, with four at-large berths based on the RPI score.