Mt. Pleasant gets Fort Madison in week eight

FORT MADISON — Last week, Mt. Pleasant picked up a big win over Class 3A district 4 rival Keokuk 34-27.

Prior to the victory over the Chiefs, the Panthers had lost three straight.

Now, Mt. Pleasant (3-4) has a great opportunity to earn its first back-to-back wins of the season when it travels to Fort Madison (0-7) on Friday.

The Bloodhounds are still searching for their first win of the season. They most recently fell to Mount Vernon 56-7.

When it comes to statistics, Mt. Pleasant leads by quite a margin in the run game, while Fort Madison hold a small edge in passing.

The Panthers have out rushed the Bloodhounds thus far 1,040 yards to 599. Mt. Pleasant has 16 touchdowns and Fort Madison eight.

Fort Madison comes in with 685 passing yards, whereas Mt. Pleasant has 492 yards. The Bloodhounds have just one more passing touchdown, taking the edge 3-to-2.

Mt. Pleasant leads the turnover battle 11-to-2.

Individually, Zach Newton leads Mt. Pleasant with 342 passing yards and one touchdown. Newton has 219 yards rushing and two scores to go along with his passing statistics.

Payton Walker has rushed for 348 yards and seven touchdowns to lead all runners. Ramzy Davis follows with 209 yards and five scores, while Cooper Coleman enters with 180 yards and two scores.

In the receiving game, Avin Truong is the lone Panthers over 100 yards. Truong has six catches for 200 yards and one touchdown. Walker follows with five catches for 77 yards.

Lou Schimmelpfennig caught one touchdown as well.

Defensively, Walker leads with 53 tackles and 11 for a loss. Max Sloat has 33 tackles and 5.5 tackles for a loss through seven weeks.

Walker, Davis and Kellen Hohorst all have interceptions. Lou Schimmelpfennig has recovered two fumbles.

Marcus Guzman leads Fort Madison with 645 yards passing and three touchdowns.

Guzman also has 480 yards rushing with eight scores. He’s the only Bloodhound above 100 yards rushing.

Brody Cashman has 253 yards receiving with one score, while Triston Marshall has 134 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Cashman has 36.5 tackles.

Friday night’s contest is set to begin at 7:30. Fort Madison won last year’s matchup 55-14.