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

The Fort Dodge football team has put together a strong resume through the first six weeks of action.

That productivity has garnered them the seventh spot in the first IHSAA RPI rankings.

The Dodgers are coming off a monster performance for Division I prospect Dreshaun Ross, as the Dodgers beat Spencer 47-28 last week.

Ross, an Oklahoma State wrestling recruit, ran for 208 yards and three touchdowns in the second half against the Tigers. He had scoring runs of 59, 51 and 71 yards.

This victory was coming off their lone defeat of the season to second-ranked Sergeant Bluff-Luton.

Fort Dodge (5-1 overall, 1-1 Class 4A-1) has wins over Mason City (20-14), Webster City (7-6), Waterloo East (36-0) and Waterloo West (35-14).

Ross has 476 yards on the season and six touchdowns. He is averaging 10.3 yards per carry. Wil McElroy is the yards leader with 591 and two scores on 122 carries.

Quarterback Tru McBride has six rushing touchdowns with a long of 44. He has thrown for 763 yards and five touchdowns.

Dalton Eckley has two touchdown catches, while Cal Pederson, Ezrah Barkhaus and Zak Jorgensen have one each.

Sam Moser leads the defense with 41 tackles, while Jayce Skow has 38, followed by Jesse Egli (34) and Ross (33).

The Dodgers are back in action on Friday when they travel to Storm Lake (2-4).

In Class 3A, district counterparts Humboldt, Webster City and Algona are 18th, 19th and 20th respectively.

The Wildcats (3-3) are coming off a 28-23 victory over Algona. Jackson Flaherty threw two touchdown passes to his twin brother Chase Flaherty. Jackson threw for 114 yards and Chase caught six balls for 104 yards.

Jackson also ran for a score. Running back Cash McIntire had 145 yards on 25 carries and a touchdown.

For Algona, Nathan Manske threw for 253 yards and a touchdown pass to Micah Kitzinger. Manske also had two rushing touchdowns.

The Lynx lost 42-28 to fifth-ranked Sioux Center. Aiden Hrnicek ran for 188 yards and four scores.

Bishop Garrigan (6-0) is the top squad in eight-player action. The Golden Bears have won 21-straight regular season contests.

The Golden Bears earned a 54-7 win over North Union.

Quarterback Tate Foertsch threw for 222 yards and four touchdowns, while running for 68 yards and two scores as well.

Ethan Marso had 106 yards and two trips to the end zone.

Weston Rosemeyer was the recipient of Foertsh’s arm, catching two touchdowns. Michael Joyce and Dalton Klenz also caught touchdown passes.