Football: Panthers 4-0 after win over Fort Madison

The MPCHS football team dominated Ft. Madison Friday night 35-7, and rolled to a 4-0 start in 2007. The no. 5 (class 3A) Panthers opened the game scoring 28 points in the first half and spent the rest of the game building reserve confidence and letting almost everyone on the roster see playing time.

Jordan Cotton got the job done early for MPCHS. He build a 21-0 lead taking 17, 13 and 35 yard runs to the endzone while Cody Smith stayed accurate with his three extra point kicks after the scores. Cotton rushed for 144 yards on his 12 carries. "Cotton was his usual self," head coach Bob Jensen told the News. "He did all his work in about half a game - so it is nice to get him a little rest and not have him carry the ball 30 times."

Offensively the game was in the Panthers hands. Their four scores in the first half solidified a win and gave Jensen the chance to use eight different ball carriers. While one concern for the Panthers was with the passing game, they were simply too successful on the ground to practice passing. Blake Heitmeier was 75% in his completion rate, but was only able to put four passes into the air. He found Joe Petrzelka and Lance Marshall for 15 and 8 yards respectively. Cotton caught one pass for 61 yards and a touchdown. "We had intended to pass more in this game, but we scored so quickly running that it just didn't make sense to pass," Coach Jensen said. "We didn't need to pour it on against a district opponent like Ft. Madison."

While the Panthers certainly handled Ft. Madison, many times easier games like this one can get away from a good football team looking ahead to the next week or not taking them as seriously as they should be taken. Not the case with the Panthers, who let nothing get in their sights at a district title. "Sometimes as a coach you worry about games like these," Jensen said. "But we game out and played solid football: we blocked well, tackled effectively and scored. As a result we got to play just about everyone."

21 players picked up some sort of defensive stat Friday night. The line continued its prevalence as one of the toughest in the district. Jessy McMullin picked up a total of seven tackles, plus one tackle for a loss and two sacks. Kyle Essex and Caleb Smith also had one sack each. The three combined for eight sacks on the season. The Panthers had five tackles on the night that were for a loss. "We played a lot of defense in the second half," Jensen said. "Joe Petrzelka played a great game for us. He intercepted a pass and ran it back, but a penalty erased it. But he still had a great night of solid defense."

The Panthers continue district action this week against Washington, a team that takes two starters (Angel Ponce, Donavon Greiner) off their injured list and as Jensen puts it, "will be quite a different team than they were the last couple of weeks." Jensen knows tough district action doesn't stop there, as Centerville and Fairfield are the last two stops of the schedule. "Centerville almost handed Keokuk another loss and Fairfield has Wimot Wellington who is running over everyone," he said. "Our district is tough and there are a lot of good teams. Next week against Washington will be a test."

District Six standings

team      record      overall

MPCHS      2-0      4-0

Fairfield      2-0      3-1

Centerville      1-1      3-1

Keokuk      1-1      3-1

Oskaloosa      1-1      1-3

Washington      1-1      3-1

Davis County      0-2      2-2

Ft. Madison      0-2      0-4

District Six notes

*Keokuk's James Vandenburg was 25-42 in passing last week vs. Centerville, surpassing the 5K mark in his career. He know has 5,322 carreer passing yards after a 389 yard performance. He is 8th all-time in the state in career passing touchdowns with an amazing 58.

*Wilmot Wellington of Fairfield rushed for his third straight 200 yard game and now has over 1,100 yards on the season and 15 touchdowns.

*Fifth ranked MPCHS is now one of eight class 3A teams and one of 60 teams in the state with undefeated records in 2007. Their seven straight wins (2006 and 2007) is a tie for the fourth longest current winning streak in the state. The last time they were beat was a 49-14 loss to Oskaloosa on Oct. 6, 2006. The Panthers have outscored their opponents 108-75 this season.