-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Dreshaun Ross of Fort Dodge stiff arm a Sergeant Bluff defender on Friday inside dodger Stadium

Nik Moser wants his Fort Dodge football team to quickly move on from Friday’s 38-0 loss to Sergeant Bluff-Luton with one caveat: that his Dodgers let the postgame feeling linger just long enough to really sting.

The Warriors used an opportunistic flurry of first-half points to set up methodical control of the rest of the game, taking the wind out of FDSH’s sails in an eagerly-anticipated Top-10 matchup inside Dodger Stadium. Facing its fourth consecutive ranked opponent, SB-L (4-1 overall) — a state semifinalist last year — looked the part and made an early statement in Class 4A, District 1.

Moser’s squad, meanwhile, was left licking their wounds and searching for answers after a 4-0 start had pushed them into the upper half of the 4A playoff conversation. Now the Dodgers are forced back to the drawing board after a reality check in front of a large crowd on their home turf.

“We got out-coached, out-played and out-physicaled,” Moser said succinctly afterward. “I’ll own it. It’s my job to have us ready to play, and we weren’t at an intensity level needed to match what they consistently brought.

“I’ve been adamant since day one that we still have a lot of work to do. That (narrative) doesn’t change, regardless of what happened (last night). But this should get our attention and challenge us in a way that being successful doesn’t. It was a wake-up call, and now we have to decide how we’re going to respond. That’s the biggest thing: what we do in the days to come to both flush this, but also, learn from it and make sure we get better because of it.”

Three pivotal plays turned what could have been a close halftime score into a 17-0 advantage for the Warriors, who have now won 15 of 17 games overall since the start of last season.

Freshman Brody Wegher — the son of former Iowa Hawkeye star Brandon Wegher — drilled a 49-yard field goal to get SB-L on the board with 2:35 left in the first quarter. The Warriors were then lined up for another Wegher FG try in the second period on 4th-and-5, but a Fort Dodge offsides penalty gave them a fresh set of downs that eventually led to an Isaiah Jervik quarterback keeper for the game’s first touchdown.

On the next play seconds later, SB-L Aden Konopasek scooped up a fumble and returned it 32 yards for another score, leaving the Dodgers stunned and in a 17-0 hole with 5:35 remaining until the break.

“We probably should’ve been in a one-score game at the half, but instead, we’re down by 17,” Moser said. “We were still in it, and I thought we’d played them pretty even (Fort Dodge actually had more first-half yards than the Warriors). We just didn’t respond well to (the deficit or the adversity). Again, that’s on me. You have to bring the fight and the emotion and the intensity to your opponent. Instead, we let them do that to us.”

SB-L smelled blood in the water and went right back to work at the start of the third quarter. The Warriors’ simple yet effective ground attack, which ranks among the best in 4A and has now accumulated nearly 5,600 rushing yards at over 7.4 yards per carry since the start of 2024, churned out an 11-play, 68-yard touchdown march to make it 24-0.

The visitors had 190 of their 264 rushing yards in the second half at 8.6 yards per attempt, thanks in large part to senior Joe Hardy’s 85-yard touchdown jaunt for the contest’s final score in the fourth quarter. Hardy is a 6-foot-4, 230-pound University of South Dakota recruit who also had a 40-yard reception on a rare pass to set up a TD in the third period.

Fort Dodge was forced to punt a season-high seven times and managed only seven first downs. Junior tailback Will McElroy, who had four consecutive 100-plus yard performances to start the year, was held to 33 yards on 16 carries thanks in large part to a swarming Warrior defense led by ubiquitous junior linebacker Xavier Jones.

Dodger senior Dreshaun Ross had another monster effort on defense, with four tackles for loss — including two sacks. Ross continues to lead 4A in both categories with 17 and six, respectively.

The injuries continued to mount for Fort Dodge on Friday as well. Already without starting offensive linemen Brandt Lawler and Korben Davis, linebackers Jayce Skow and John Hughes both had to leave the game after getting hurt.

“We let some things slide (in winning) that probably wouldn’t happen otherwise, so this definitely should get our attention,” Moser said. “We’re banged up and we got humbled, but we’re also a 4-1 football team. Everything is still in front of us. We’ve got to right the ship in a hurry, though. There’s plenty of blame to go around and no sense in pointing figures. We all have to own this and move forward together.”

The Dodgers are now on the road the next two weeks, first visiting Spencer (1-4) on Friday. The Tigers lost last night to Le Mars, 33-20.

FD SB-L

First Downs 7 16

Rushes-Yards 27-83 44-264

Passing Yards ˜˜75 62

Comp-Att-Int 8-21-0 4-8-0

Total Yards 158 326

Punts-Avg. 7-31.0 3-36.5

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards ˜ 2-10 3-20

SB-Luton 3 14 14 7 — 38

Fort Dodge 0 0 0 0 — 0

Scoring Summary

Sergeant Bluff-Luton — Brody Wegher (49-yard field goal), 2:35 left first quarter.

SB-L — Isaiah Jervik (8-yard run), 5:56 left second. Wegher kick.

SB-L — Aden Konopasek (32-yard fumble recovery), 5:35 left second. Wegher kick.

SB-L — Jervik (3-yard run), 7:14 left third. Wegher kick.

SB-L — Joe Hardy (2-yard run), 1:55 left third. Wegher kick.

SB-L — Hardy (85-yard run), 11:34 left fourth. Wegher kick.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Fort Dodge: Will McElroy 16-33, Dreshaun Ross 4-20, Tru McBride 4-15, Bo Marsh 1-10, Ezrah Barkhaus 1-5, Reggie Pederson 1-0. SB-L: Beckett Verros 18-113, Joe Hardy 5-96, Isaiah Jervik 14-32, Brody Wegher 2-13, Carson Jager 2-12, Brody Van Kalsbeek 2-(minus-1), Mason Vandekop 1-(minus-1).

Passing — Fort Dodge: Tru McBride 8-21-0-75. SB-L: Isaiah Jervik 4-8-0-62.

Receiving — Fort Dodge: Dalton Eckley 4-55, Kyree Rochon 2-7, Ezrah Barkhaus 1-7, Tytrell Mosley 1-6. SB-L: Joey Hardy 1-40, Blake Harsma 2-16, Brody Van Kalsbeek 1-6.