Mt. Pleasant pulls away in second half

MOUNT PLEASANT — It was all about the basics, something Fort Madison’s football team found out in Friday’s 45-10 loss to Mount Pleasant.
The Panthers (6-0 overall, 2-0 Class 3A District 4) led 17-3 at halftime, then pulled away in the second half with a game plan Fort Madison coach Derek Doherty was expecting.
“That’s a good football team, but we knew that coming in,” Doherty said. “They’re not getting all the recognition and doing the things that they're doing because they're not good. But we just really preached the basics. I mean, they're not extremely flashy or anything. They're just really good at the basics, and their pad level beat ours all night. Their tackling beat ours all night. It's not a good recipe to be successful in football.”
Mount Pleasant quarterback Grayson Walker threw for 236 yards and five touchdowns in the game, three in the second half.
“Our secondary, we were there a couple different times, and we just couldn't make the play,” Doherty said. “And they made plays. We knew they loved to spread the field vertically and we had the game plan in place, we just didn't execute it.” 
Mount Pleasant scored on its opening possession of the game when Walker, who had an earlier touchdown pass called back because of a penalty, threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Brody Clark for a 7-0 lead.
Fort Madison (3-3, 1-1) answered on its next possession, getting to the Mount Pleasant 6-yard line before being stopped. Jonah Santiago kicked a 22-yard field goal to cut the Panthers’ lead to 7-3.

Mount Pleasant’s Brandon Veloz kicked a 37-yard field goal with 6:30 left to increase the Panthers’ lead to 10-3, then Walker threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Helling just before halftime.
“We felt good at halftime,” Doherty said.
But the game would get away from the Bloodhounds in the second half. Walker threw two touchdown passes in the third quarter, one a 44-yard screen pass to Griffen Jones and one a 42-yard pass to Isaiah Lange down the middle of the field for a 31-3 lead. Jones then had a 4-yard touchdown run with 2:17 left in the quarter for a 38-3 lead and a running clock the rest of the way.
Walker threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Lange early in the fourth quarter, and after the play two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were called on the Fort Madison coaching staff, which meant Doherty had to leave the game.
The Bloodhounds tacked on a final touchdown — Owen Huffman threw a 3-yard scoring pass to Jordan Thompson for the final margin.
“Every little bit of success that we can have right now will take,” Doherty said. "Especially against a team like that. We’ve got to keep building, and that's what we do. This doesn't define our whole season — we’ve got more to play for, and we’ve just got to bounce back.”
Moses Thacher rushed for 113 yards to lead the Bloodhounds. Huffman threw for 117 yards.
Fort Madison plays at Fairfield next Friday.