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Dodgers stay unbeaten by picking old rival West apart

The Fort Dodge football team spent the first three weeks of the season wiping opponents out in the first half.

It took the Dodgers a little longer to erase Waterloo West on Friday, but once the dam broke, there was nothing the Wahawks could do to stop floodgates from opening.

A 27-point third quarter surge turned a relatively close contest into another rout as Fort Dodge improved to 4-0 with a 43-10 victory over its old conference rival inside Dodger Stadium.

Kickoff was moved up two hours to avoid any weather complications from a forecast that looked ominous the day before. The concerns never really materialized until later, and as it turns out, neither did any worries about West.

The Wahawks (2-2), a playoff qualifier a year ago, boasted Class 5A's top scoring defense through the first three weeks of the season. Head coach Nik Moser's squad had its way with West, though, continuing to show incredible balance with 211 yards rushing and 218 more through the air.

Still, the Wahawks were hanging around on the scoreboard heading into the locker room, down only 13-3 to a Dodger team that had outscored its foes by a combined 91-0 before Friday.

"We challenged them a little, because I thought we were the better team at that point but the scoreboard didn't really show it yet. We didn't want any doubts to linger," Moser said. "To our guys' credit, they came out and responded to that right away (with the quartet of third-period touchdowns).

"I felt like in that first half, we had eight or nine guys out of the 11 on the same page and clicking most of the time. In the (third period), it was all 11."

Fort Dodge's line play continued to send a message on both sides of the ball, long before the avalanche arrived. The Dodgers were relentless at the point of attack, running the ball with efficiency, giving quarterback Tru McBride time to throw, and completely shutting down West when the Wahawks were attempting to run the ball themselves.

Senior Will McElroy had 21 carries for 168 yards and a pair of scores, while McBride had 181 yards through the air. West managed only 27 net rushing yards, with 37 coming against Fort Dodge reserves in the final three minutes of regulation with the mercy-rule clock running.

"Super proud of the guys and how we played," said McBride, who had touchdown passes to junior Spencer Smith and senior Kyree Rochon covering 44 and 52 yards, respectively, during that third-quarter onslaught. "Shoutout to our defense especially - they were outstanding all night.

"Offensively, things were close in the first half but we stepped up at all positions and started clicking the rest of the way. Our offensive line was great. We always talk before the game about how they set the tone up front and we need to out-physical our (opponent)."

Reggie Pederson continued to be the squad's jack of all trades. The Dodger junior, who had a kickoff return for a score last week at Waterloo East, fired a halfback pass to senior Kyree Rochon for a 23-yard TD against West to get the ball rolling in the third period.

Pederson then electrified the crowd with a 91-yard interception return to put Fort Dodge up 33-3.

"It means so much for us to be 4-0," Pederson said. "Especially all the work this group puts in year-round.

"It's been an exciting year for me so far because I wasn't the biggest impact player last season, being younger. So it's been fun helping my team in any way I can (in 2026)."

Rochon had two more receiving touchdowns, giving him four the last two weeks. He totaled 83 yards receiving for the Dodgers.

Smith (68 yards) and senior Zak Jorgensen (52) were also reliable targets for McBride.

Senior Logan Barkhaus also intercepted a pass for the FDSH defense. Classmate Alex Beekman recorded another sack, as did sophomore Mykel Benedict.

Dodger senior Conrad Greathouse kicked a 34-yard field goal.

West had 190 yards passing, but it took the Wahawks 38 attempts to get there. The Dodgers' back eight deflected or even dropped a number of balls, and forced quite a few drops themselves.

Fort Dodge has now defeated its old Big 8 foe four straight times overall since 2015, and in consecutive seasons by a combined point differential of 78-24. The series, which dates back to 1912 and may be done with the schedule turnover and West consolidating with East in 2028, stands at 36-36-4.

The Dodgers now turn their full attention to powerhouse Sergeant Bluff-Luton, which is also off to a 4-0 start and is a consensus Top-3 team in 4A. Fort Dodge will make the 120-mile trip on Friday and try to atone for last year's lopsided loss to the Warriors, who have won 10 or more games six times in the last 11 years with five state semifinal trips to the UNI-Dome since 2015.

"Every week, we have to continue to grow and get better," said McBride, a Wayne State (Neb.) College recruit who leads 4A in passing and overall touchdowns. "We're looking forward to a big week and test (at SB-L)."

Moser added he is proud that his Dodgers have "put themselves in position to have a big game like this now."

"We'll have to be at our best," Moser said. "(SB-L) is a great team. We've earned this opportunity and we want to make the most of it."