FORT MADISON - Four days are all that's left of a bitter 2021 Hounds football season that saw the Fort Madison just miss the playoffs with a last-second loss at Burlington High School.
Friday marks the kick off of the 2022 season with a the "County Seat" on the line as the Hounds travel to Keokuk to start head Coach Derek Doherty's fourth year at the helm.
The Hounds are counting on a solid front five on offense and a defensive front that is almost unchanged from the 6-3 2021 squad that moved into 4A-District 3 from Class 3A during last year's realignment.
No one will say the loss of Austin Ensminger to the Hound offensive line won't be felt, but the crimson and black are in as good of shape as they could have hoped. Senior Mateo Lozano returns and will move to center, while fellow seniors Tanner Settles and Daniel Sokolik, junior Ike Thacher, are all back to anchor the offense - and defensive fronts.
But it isn't just Ensminger that will be missed this year. Every year rotates out seniors and Doherty said he's very much a next-man-in coach, but some open spots are tougher to swallow.
All-state selection Tate Johnson at wide out and defensive back, Landes Williams at quarterback and Gavin Wiseman at wideout will be three spots the Hounds have to dig for.
Doherty said Aiden Boyer will step in as signal caller and has shown some potential in offensive coordinator Justin Menke's read offense.
The Hounds scrimmaged for about an hour with Mediapolis Friday night and before storms rolled in Boyer provided a little lightning of his own moving the offense against a Bulldog squad with two top 100 players in the state according to the Des Moines Register.
"Aiden was reading extremely well," Doherty said. "He's worked so hard in the weight room and he's very fast . On Friday he had a nice read that had everyone, including us, faked out. It was a beautiful play," Doherty said.
"We like our quarterback to be a dual threat for sure and he's fully capable of doing that when we need it."
Replacing the overall speed at the ends the Hounds had last year will be tough, but Doherty said the 2022 Hounds are actually more balanced at the receiver position. Opponents last year had to blanket Johnson on deep routes, but this year they may have more options.
"We'll have a couple guys that can catch the mid stuff and short stuff and get up field. Both of them have blossomed, but we're not completely sure what we were looking there yet."
Doherty was talking about senior Nathanial Swigert and junior Leif Boeding, but he said junior Henry Morris will also see time spread wide. And senior Kane Williams will handle some of the tighter routes.
"We're kinda deep at receiver but we've got some inexperience. We know we've got a dog inside with Kane. He's very dynamic and he's faster than you think," Doherty said. "Henry has been totally commited to our program and getting better by the day and Henry Wiseman will be a very cool replacement for his older brother Gavin."
In addition to the loss of Wiseman, the Hounds lost seniors Mikey DiPrima and Miles Dear and have lost junior Xander Wellman who played on both sides of the ball to a knee injury suffered during soccer. Wellman also handled the kicking chores for the Hounds.
The Hounds threw for 17 touchdowns and close to 1,800 yards last year. They rushed for close to 1,200 yards with Williams and Jakob McGowan accounting for 500 each. McGowan was also lost to graduation.
Junior Teague Smith will be the Hounds likely featured back. Smith rushed for 111 yards last year and one score on 28 carries. Smith was also the leading tackler in the district for the Bloodhounds with 57.5 total, 30 of them solo.
Ike Thacher recorded 29.5 tackles with 12 of those for a loss from the interior front in Defensive Coordinator Jason Crook's system. Settles, a senior this year, racked up 43.5 tackles, second best on the team, with 11 for losses and 27 solo. Sokolik quietly had 34 tackles, five for a losses.
"Tanner Settles is the heart of our defense. He doesn't have a ton of stats because of our system, but I've never seen an edge setter like him in high school in all my time. He gets off blocks. Friday night he was taking on triple teams and winning some of those battles. That shows how tough he is."
Smith again will see action on both sides of the ball.
"He wants to play all three sides. This is a kid that doesn't want to come off the field. We'll run him a lot and he'll still go downhill. He ran track and has done things to pick up speed," Doherty said. "Not that he's slow - he's a thicker back and he's gonna run you over, but at the same time he can plant and make a cut."
Newcomer Tristan Marshall has caught the attention of coaches and Tate Settles could see time in the backfield as well.
"We moved Tristan from receiver to running back. He's a natural running back. He cuts and has vision. Even the other coaches were like 'wow'. I think he can be somebody that can stand out."
Sophomore Caden Barnes will also see time in the backfield. Barnes showed up as a freshman last year in track throwing the shot and discuss, and then was the Hounds' main catcher during the baseball season.
"We're still growing at that position. Caden ran the heck out of it Friday night. He was very impressive."
But Doherty said this year the staff is happy with personnel.
"The is a first time for us having four of five back up front," he said. "Usually we're trying to replace lineman like crazy. In the past we had a ton of skills guys and you can have a stud running back, but if you don't have anyone blocking you lose that."
Doherty said names like Brody Cashman and Brant Booten will get playing time and junior Hayden Segoviano will see time at inside linebacker.
Looking at the district isn't something Doherty puts a lot of time into.
"I don't want to be hypocritic telling the kids to just focus on us, but yeah North Scott is always going to be a mountain. They do a great job building a program. But I have honestly tried to avoid reading and listening to the outside stuff," he said.
"Iowa City Liberty will be well-coached and they've got a big population of athletes to pull from. Burlington has a nice population of kids, too and (Jim) Krekel has some things rolling. It's crazy that we're in these bigger classes. They have updated populations to work with," Doherty said.
"But we're excited about the challenges this year. We're a bit different and we're going to be a fast and physical team."
The Bloodhounds have the exact same schedule of teams and weeks from 2021 with locations reversed. Fort Madison starts the year Friday at Keokuk and then hosts West Burlington for the home opener Sept. 2 on First Responders Night. The Hounds hit the road again for a trip to Fairfield in Week 3 and then come back home for a tilt with Washington in week 4 before district play begins.
Mount Pleasant comes to Jim Youel Field in Week 5 for the 4A-3 District opener and then Hounds head to Clinton and Iowa City Liberty in weeks 6 and 7. They wrap up the year at home with Burlington in week 8 and powerhouse North Scott in the regular season finale.
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