FORT MADISON - Fort Madison Head Coach Derek Doherty said the philosophy of the Hounds' football program is not to focus on winning and losing, but showing up to compete with whomever's across from you.
That's the approach he wants the 6-0 Bloodhounds to take when they travel to Iowa City Liberty High School Friday night to take on the 5-1 Lightning.
Liberty is six points from being perfect with the only loss coming to Western Dubuque. They own wins over Iowa City High in week 1 and Linn-Mar in week 2.
Liberty's Graham Beckman leads state in Class 4A in passing TDs with 18 as a junior and has 21 total touchdowns, which is second best in the state. He's thrown for 1,481 yards.
"They had a quarterback Ty Hughes last year who transferred and now this Beckman kid is there lighting it up. They have depth there obviously, and being a bigger school helps with that, but it's led from the top," Doherty said.
"This kid likes to throw the ball, but they throw because they can... not because they need to. They like to air it out."
Doherty was less than thrilled with the performance of the Hounds at Clinton where they sneaked out of town with a 14-13 win Friday night.
"Our Monday meeting was pretty rough. We have an open and honest floor, but these guys don't talk as much as teams in the past," he said.
"That's not better or worse, they're just a different group. Last year we knew who those guys were. These guys are bit more quiet. But as coaches we got after them a bit."
Doherty said it seemed the Hounds were trying to get a peak at who Clinton was before engaging in the game.
"We've tried that before, and every time we end up getting scored on. We can't wait around. If we wait around against these types of teams we have coming up, we're going to dig ourselves into a hole that we'll have trouble getting out of."
The Hounds will be led on defense by junior Hayden Segoviano, who will have his hands full keeping Beckman, who isn't afraid to tuck it and run, as well as senior Trey Gregoire who has four TDs and is averaging just over five yards a carry.
Segoviano is ninth in 4A in tackles with 45.5 and fourth, along with sophomore Brody Cashman, in sacks with five each.
Gregoire's twin Garrett Gregoire has seven receiving touchdowns and will keep the Bloodhounds' secondary, which was susceptible to long passes last week, busy most of the night.
Beckman will move the ball around. He's completed passes to 12 different receivers and backs, six of whom have scored TDs. And at out of 152 attempts on the season, Beckman's been picked off just twice.
But Fort Madison's Aidan Boyer has been almost as selective. Boyer has thrown 144 attempts and been intercepted twice. He went over the 1,000 yard mark Friday night.
Junior Teague Smith, who seems to be improving by the week at finding a little extra running room, is averaging 5.2 yards per carry for 488 yards and six scores.
Doherty said each week Smith finds a little more instinct about running the ball.
"Shout out to Coach (Patrick) Lamb, he's our running back's coach and he's got great drills and has been working those guys. It's been fun to watch and I think Teague's starting to like those longer runs. He's been working hard at it," Doherty said.
The third-year coach said Liberty will run 21 different kids onto the field and that caught Iowa City off guard in Week 1, which is tough to scout for.
"They do a lot of different things. They're very diverse and have great wide receivers. They run quick routes and make plays and just because they can throw, doesn't mean those running backs won't run. Beckman doesn't run like a quarterback - he runs like a running back and wants yards," Doherty said.
"They're dangerous. I keep using that word, but these guys are putting up points and putting up yards and it's going to be a tough task."
The Hounds play their final two regular season games at home with Class 4A No. 8 North Scott coming to town next week and then Burlington in the season finale. If last year is any indicator the Bloodhounds will need to win one of the final three games to qualify for a spot in the post season.
The livestream link for this week's game can be found by clicking here: https://youtu.be/9SNNvmbDYYg
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