FORT MADISON — Looks can be deceiving at first glance.

Yes, Oskaloosa coasted to an easy 41-14 win over winless Fort Madison Friday night in Class 3A, District 5 action. But the Bloodhounds (0-3 overall, 0-2 district) gave the Indians (2-2, 2-0) all they could handle in the first half.

Fort Madison trailed just 21-14 and had 207 yards of offense in the first half, then Oskaloosa’s defense took over in the final 24 minutes.

The Indians held the Bloodhounds to just 45 yards of offense and four first downs while picking off quarterbacks Drew Hayes and Ross Vance four times, including one returned by Drew Ruggles for a touchdown.

“We just buckled down on defense in the second half,” Oskaloosa coach Darrell Schumacher said. “Defensively, we made a few adjustments and I have to give our defensive coaches some great credit and our players really came to play in the second half.”

It looked like things would be the same as Oskaloosa scored on its first possession of the game after forcing Fort Madison into punting the first time it had the ball.

Getting the ball at their 27, the Indians didn’t throw a single pass, but drove 73 yards in seven plays with the running tandem of Tye Sparks and Austin Blanchard accounting for every yard. Sparks had runs of 13 and 25 yards as he picked up 67 yards on the drive while Blanchard scored on a 2-yard run at the 7:09 mark for the game’s first touchdown. Andrew Reed’s PAT made it 7-0.

The Bloodhounds turned the ball over on their next possession as Oskaloosa’s Wiebe Goodyk picked off a Ross Vance pass at the Oskaloosa 40 and returned it seven yards to the 47.

A 15-yard penalty for pass interference and three running plays got the ball at the Bloodhound 17 when the Indians lost a main cog in their running attack.

Sparks went down with an injury to his right ankle after gaining 12 yards on the play and would not return to the game.

Oskaloosa didn’t miss a beat as Blanchard took over the role as the main ball carrier and added two more touchdowns to keep the Indians ahead.

“Tye went down early and we had to move some guys around,” Schumacher said. “We had practiced that, but we didn’t practice that as much as probably could have. Austin really ran well, Brad Vonk did a nice job there adjusting and we were pretty happy with that. 

“Our special teams did a nice job tonight and it was a total team effort. We knew they would be better than they have been in the past, but our kids came hard in the second half.”

After a holding penalty placed the ball at the Fort Madison 27, Blanchard carried the ball twice for 10 yards and Matt Bowie caught a 12-yard pass from Jon Eveland to set up Blanchard’s second TD of the game, this time on a 5-yard scamper with just under two minutes left in the first quarter. That made it 14-0 and it appeared like another rout was on.

But the Bloodhounds, under new coach Todd McGhghy, was back in the game on their first play from scrimmage after Reed kicked the ball out of bounds on the kickoff.

Vance found Michael Baxter alone for a 65-yard touchdown that got the Fort Madison fans buzzing and made it 14-7 with 1:37 remaining in the period.

Oskaloosa answered right back with a 10-play, 75-yard drive to out it back in control of the game. 

An 18-yard completion to Bowie and an 18-yard run by Blanchard, who rushed for 98 yards in the game, got the ball past midfield. Five plays later, Blanchard notched his third touchdown of the game on a 12-yard run and Reed’s PAT made the score 21-7 at the 9:38 mark of the second quarter.

Fort Madison had an answer for that as it drove 57 yards in 12 plays with Cameron Cole hauling in a 16-yard pass from Drew Hayes to cut the margin to 21-14 with just over 5 minutes remaining in the opening half.

That would be the halftime score as neither team could add to its total and Oskaloosa would make the defensive adjustments to shut down Fort Madison and take over the game.

That control didn’t take long as Goodyk intercepted his second pass of the game, this time from Hayes, at the Oskaloosa 48.

The Indians couldn’t cash in on the opportunity and punted the ball back to the Bloodhounds.

They managed two first downs on their next drive, but returned the favor to the Indians, punting the ball back to the Indians.

Oskaloosa was faced a fourth-and-2 at the Fort Madison 49 when Schumacher called a time out.

It looked like the Indians would give the ball back to the Bloodhounds, but Schumacher had a little trick up his sleeve. Bowie was in punt formation and faked the Bloodhounds out by connecting with Jordan VanWyk for a 16-yard pass and a first down at the 33. Two plays later, Goodyk caught another pass, this time from his own quarterback as Eveland found the senior for a 26-yard touchdown with just over 2 minutes left in the third quarter and a 28-14 lead.

The Indian defense added to that score just a minute later as Drew Ruggles intercepted a Hayes pass at the 25 and returned it for the touchdown and a 35-14 advantage.

Fort Madison had the ball for just two plays on its next possession as the Indians recorded their fourth interception of the night. Reed picked off a pass by Vance at the Oskaloosa 35 and returned it 40 yards to the Bloodhound 25 late in the period.

Oskaloosa moved the ball to the 14 when the quarter ended, but it didn’t waste much time at the start of the final quarter to put the finishing touches on its second straight win of 2008. Eveland hooked up with Goodyk on the first play of the fourth quarter and the 41-14 lead.

The Indians limited the Bloodhounds to one first down the rest of the game and that came with less than 2 minutes remaining in the contest.

On the next play, Blaine Richardson intercepted a Vance pass for the fifth Fort Madison turnover and the Indians ran out the clock to end the game.

Oskaloosa returns home this week for its homecoming encounter with Williamsburg.



Oskaloosa 41, Fort Madison 14

Oskaloosa 14 7 14 6 — 41

Fort Madison 7 7 0 0 — 14

Scoring Summary

O — Austin Blanchard 2 run (Andrew Reed kick), 7:09

O — Blanchard 5 run (Reed kick), 1:58

FM — Michael Baxter 65 pass from Ross Vance (Matt Krogmeier kick), 1:37

O — Blanchard 12 run (Reed kick), 9:38

FM — Cameron Cole 16 pass from Drew Hayes (Krogmeier kick), 5:22

O — Wiebe Goodyk 26 pass from Jon Eveland (Reed kick), 2:07

O — Drew Ruggles 25 interception return (Reed kick), 1:07

O — Goodyk 14 pass from Eveland (Kick failed), 11:32



Team Statistics

O FM

First downs 17 12

Rushes-yards 43-186 17-33

Passing yards 107 219

Total yards 293 252

Att-Comp-Int 9-16-0 19-42-5

Punts 5-30.8 4-32.5

Penalties-yards 8-55 10-80

Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0

Time/possession 26:39 21:21

Individual Statistics

Rushing — Oskaloosa, Austin Blanchard 25-98, Tye Sparks 8-84, Zach Myers 2-14. Fort Madison, Kevin Long 8-23, Cameron Cole 1-8, James DiPrima 3-8.

Passing — Oskaloosa, Jon Eveland 8-13-0-91, Matt Bowie 1-1-0-16, Wiebe Goodyk 0-2-0-0. Fort Madison, Drew Hayes 12-26-2-124- Ross Vance 7-16-3-95.

Receiving — Oskaloosa, Goodyk 2-40, Bowie 3-34, Jordan VanWyk 3-25, Andrew Reed 1-8. Fort Madison, Michael Baxter 8-130, Cole 4-57, Colton Kruse 1-13, Long 6-19.

Tackles — Oskaloosa, Drew Ruggles 9, Reed 7, Ben Bricker 6, Tyler Kindley 5, Chris Kollasch 4, Quentin VandeStroet 4, Kyle Ford 4. Fort Madison, Jeremy Abbey 14, Vance 10, Adam Knustrom 8.

Sack — Oskaloosa, Kindley.

Fumble recovery — Fort Madison, Austin Smith.

Interception — Oskaloosa, Goodyk 2, VanWyk, Ruggles, Blaine Richardson.