Hounds want to check some boxes Friday

FORT MADISON – The mood this week for the Bloodhounds, staring down former Class 3A top-ranked Mt. Vernon on the road, could be expected to be somber.
The Hounds have lost 13 straight and are traveling to their final non-district game of the 2025 season at the 2-1 Mustangs. Solon knocked Mt. Vernon from the unbeaten list last week 35-20 in Solon.
But Fort Madison Head Coach Derek Doherty is anything but somber.
“We never have worried too much about the score. I’ve said before, it’s the process. It's setting some goals and then going up and checking off boxes,” he said.
“Again, I really don't think any win or loss changes how I feel we should go about things. We've talked a lot, and I think the kids are finally starting to understand that I mean it when I say wins and losses are 50/50 propositions. But it’s more what are we chasing - what are our game goals, and what things we are committed to.”
Fort Madison is coming off a tough loss to Central Lee last week in the first time those teams have met up since 2019. It was a loss that Doherty took hard and called a “C” game.
“I think that there's some lessons learned last week. Obviously, the outcome is not what we wanted and the reason was we can't show up with the "C" game and let people play their “A” game. Our kids were very frustrated of how last week went, but again, we feel that we let that happen.”
Mo Thacher, who carried the ball for about 10 straight plays to open the game last Friday, had 92 yards last week and a score. Sophomore Aurelio Jaciunde filled in for a banged up Stefan Berlett and completed 7 of 14 passes for 67 yards. Ren Watson stood up the line at his end spot and recorded nine tackles on the night.

Doherty said Jaciunde and Berlett are two different athletes and bring different attributes to the table.
“I think they really are two totally different athletes. So what Steph is good at maybe Aurelio is not as good at, but then he's better in certain areas. I think that's kind of our job as coaches when we break down film to put our kids in the best situations,” he said.
The Hounds will have to deal with a fairly potent offense in Mt. Vernon.
Quarterback Kellen Haverback has completed more than 50 passes in his first three games and has already surpassed 700 yards and six touchdowns. The senior is second on the team in rushing with 77 yards, but has four scores there, as well, so he’ll require some spying from the Hounds defense.
Junior Jakob Yock has more than 100 yards and is averaging four yards a pop.
The real danger is through the air where four Mustangs have more than 100 yards receiving and four different receivers have found the endzone. The Mustangs may work on different things with the Hounds rebuilding, so anything could be on Head Coach Brad Meester’s play card.
Doherty said he’s seen growth in the Hounds but last week they just “stubbed their toe”.
“I do feel like we're growing through the first two weeks. We we’re growing and then last week we stubbed our toe, but we had some very, very honest conversations about it.  You just hope that they're growing through these things and not just going through them.”
The game is a 7 p.m. start at the Martha Parsons Activity Complex.