Mt. Pleasant flips the script on Hounds

FORT MADISON - Fort Madison football coach Derek Doherty pointed to the team that just handed his team its worst loss of the season to say that could be the blueprint for the future.
Mount Pleasant’s 61-0 win over the Bloodhounds on Friday night was decided long before halftime, but it was after the game when Doherty used the Panthers as an example of how his winless team can turn things around.
It wasn’t that long ago that Fort Madison was putting up big numbers on the Panthers — the Bloodhounds outscored Mount Pleasant 177-21 in a four-game winning streak in the series from 2020-23.
“We shared with them that that was a program that just a couple of years ago hadn’t won in 20-some games,” Doherty said. “It's a group of kids that just made a decision. They did the right things, they committed to it, and now look at what they're doing.”
Fort Madison (0-6 overall, 0-2 Class 3A District 4) is on a 16-game losing streak dating back to a 50-7 loss to Solon in a first-round playoff game in 2023. Mount Pleasant went 0-9 in the 2023 season, part of a 1-26 stretch over three seasons, but is 5-1 overall this season, 2-0 in the district.
“I think that was us, not too long ago,” Doherty said, motioning to the scoreboard. “It was us up 55 to nothing on them (a 55-14 win over the Panthers in 2023). In just a year and a half, two years, they flipped the script. So what is our answer going to be? A few short years ago, it was us that had the ugly number on our side of the scoreboard. So we’ve just got to keep working to get back to that point.”

The Panthers led 23-0 after the first quarter, getting a touchdown just 16 seconds into the game to get things started. Grayson Walker recovered the onside kick to open the game for Mount Pleasant, then Ramzy Davis had a 47-yard touchdown on the Panthers’ first offensive play for a 6-0 lead.
Walker’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Merrick Lamm made it 13-0, then Dylan White’s 39-yard field goal pushed the lead to 16-0. Davis, who had 116 rushing yards in the first quarter and 148 for the game, added a 35-yard touchdown run later in the quarter.
The big plays kept coming for the Panthers in the second quarter. Ryan Helling had a 51-yard touchdown run, Griffen Jones had a 1-yard touchdown run, then Walker threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Lange to give Mount Pleasant a 44-0 halftime lead.
The Panthers finished the game with 460 yards of offense, compared to 69 for the Bloodhounds.
Fort Madison plays host to Fairfield next Friday.
“I just had that conversation with them — If they don't think that they have something to play for, they're playing for the first win in a long time,” Doherty said. “If it’s one (win), you’ve got to start somewhere. If we’re already packing it in, I question what type of competitor you are. But if you are a competitor, we’ve got a lot to play for. Maybe it’s not the playoffs, maybe it’s not a winning season, but it’s a win that we haven’t had for a long time.”