Mt. Pleasant aims for 1st win, revenge

FORT MADISON — It was a rough non-district schedule for the Mt. Pleasant football team, as the Panthers went 0-4 including a tough home loss to West Burlington-Notre Dame next week. The good news is, a new season starts on Friday night.

District play begins for Class 4A District 3, and that provides an opportunity for the Panthers to wipe away the first four games of the year.

District 3 looks to be a difficult one to navigate, and the Panthers don’t have it easy this weekend. Mt. Pleasant travels to play a Fort Madison team that went 4-0 in non-district play, including a 37-7 win over Washington last week.

Despite an 0-4 start, Mt. Pleasant’s offense has looked just fine. The Panthers have scored at least 20 points in every game this season.

Jacob Richtman has had a comfortable start at the quarterback position, completing 107 of his 158 passing attempts for 1,063 yards and nine touchdowns. He has completed 23 more passes than anyone else in the state of Iowa.

Wyatt Woodsmall has caught 32 passes for 392 yards and four scores. Carter Amos has caught 25 passes for 217. Garrett Cook, Bowen Davis and Payton Hagans all have over 130 yards receiving.

Zerek Venghaus has emerged as the Panthers’ top running back, running for 138 yards and two scores this season. Hagans has scampered for 50 yards and one score.

Davis leads Mt. Pleasant in tackles, with 23.5 this season. He also has one of four Panther fumble recoveries, and his was returned 25 yards back down the sideline last week. Woodsmall leads the team in interceptions, with two.

The Panther defense is going to have to try and figure out how to stop Fort Madison’s passing game. Senior quarterback Aidan Boyer has completed 65 of his 91 passes for 688 yards and eight touchdowns this season.

Fort Madison has a four-headed monster in the passing game. Henry Wiseman leads the team with 247 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Kane Williams has 153 yards and three touchdowns. Leif Boeding has 142 yards and one touchdowns, Nathaniel Swigart has 130 yards and two scores.

Teague Smith leads Fort Madison’s rushing attack. He has 297 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

Fort Madison’s Hayden Segoviano has ben incredible on defense this year, leading the team with 31.5 tackles, 18 of them solo. He also leads the way with 6.5 tackles for loss.

The Bloodhounds have caused just six turnovers in their first four games. Fort Madison has picked off opposing quarterbacks four times and recovered two fumbles.

Up until 2020, Mt. Pleasant had dominated Fort Madison in the sport of football. The Panthers had won six games in a row, and had scored 34 points or more in five of those six wins. Over the last two games, however, Fort Madison has outscored Mt. Pleasant 86-14.

The Panthers and Bloodhounds will kick off at 7:30 p.m., at Fort Madison High School.