Hounds earn another conference title

Conference Champs

The seniors who are graduating, they didn’t get their freshman year because of COVID. So, they’re conference champs their entire career. So they can brag about that a little bit.””

Kevin Wellman, FM Boys Head Soccer Coach

FORT MADISON - They hang team photos of the Southeast Conference champions on the walls at Fort Madison High School.
Another boys soccer photo will be going up.
The Bloodhounds clinched the championship on Monday with an 11-2 win over Mount Pleasant at the Baxter Sports Complex.
Fort Madison, ranked 15th in Class 3A, finished conference play at 9-1, losing only to Burlington last Thursday.
It’s the third consecutive conference crown for the Bloodhounds, who moved to 14-2 overall.
“It means a lot to these guys,” coach Kevin Wellman said. “The seniors who are graduating, they didn’t get their freshman year because of COVID. So, they’re conference champs their entire career. So they can brag about that a little bit.”
Fort Madison erupted for eight second-half goals to finish off the win as Wellman used different lineup combinations in preparation for the postseason.
“We changed actually quite a bit,” Wellman said. “We were getting some reserve guys in, to see what they looked like. Instead of dumping a bunch of reserve guys at the end, we did a couple here, a couple there, so that we could see how they would look surrounded by the other starters.”
Fort Madison led 3-0 at halftime, getting goals from Xander Wellman, Jacob Shottenkirk and Nolan Guzman.
Shottenkirk opened the second-half barrage with a goal less than four minutes into the half. Henry Graham followed with a goal three minutes later, then Leif Boeding scored with 30:41 to play.
Xander Wellman had back-to-back goals, the second coming on a penalty kick. Boeding added his second goal with 15:35 left, Graham scored again with three minutes to play, then Jacob Pothitakis ended the scoring with a goal with 28 seconds left.
Fort Madison closes the season with a Saturday home match against No. 11 (Class 3A) Newton.
“They’re an athletic team,” Kevin Wellman said. “So yes, it’s a good dress rehearsal for what’s coming up. They’re putting up good numbers.”
The Bloodhounds will have four days of practice, and Wellman said it’s going to be a chance to prepare for not just Newton, but the postseason as well.
“We’re going to work on the things we need to work on,” he said. “We still have trouble connecting passes to the level we want to. We want to have more consistent possessions, we’re going to work on two-touch passing, we’re going to work on one-touch passing. It’s just cleaning up some things we’ll need.