Photo by Lisa Grouette, the Globe Gazette: Fort Dodge’s Javion Jondle runs near the sidelines against Mason City on Friday in Mason City.

MASON CITY — A frustrated Fort Dodge football locker room sat in silence after a Mason City game for the first time in 18 years here on Friday.

The Riverhawks were still on the field celebrating their 35-30 victory as the Dodgers huddled together in a quiet corner inside Mason City High School, away from all of the noise and distractions around them.

It was the perfect metaphor for what head coach Nik Moser wants his squad to concentrate on moving forward: only each other.

“I think about ‘The Man In The Arena’ (former President Theodore Roosevelt’s famous speech from 1910),” Moser said after a long, honest talk with the players. “It’s not the critic who counts. Look, I know there’s going to be outside noise. We can’t pay attention to any of that. We can’t get caught up in what people who aren’t a part of this program say. All that matters is everyone who is in that locker room right now. And they’re hurting if you look into their eyes.

“We got beat. It’s pretty much as simple as that. And I’m going to emphasize ‘we.’ I need to do a better job. Our coaches need to do a better job. Our players need to do a better job. There’s no need to point fingers. We’ll own this, learn from it and move forward. Together.”

Fort Dodge nearly escaped defeat by staging a spirited rally in the final five minutes of regulatoin. All hope appeared to be lost late when the Riverhawks forced a turnover and began nursing a 35-23 lead.

A Nate Opande interception and long return brought the Dodgers back to life, though, and on fourth down, senior Connor Carver found classmate Javion Jondle on a 7-yard touchdown strike to pull the visitors within five points.

A failed onside kick gave Mason City the ball in FDSH territory. The Dodgers backed the Riverhawks into a fourth-down decision with everything on the line, but MCHS ultimately sealed the victory by moving the chains on a close 4th-down pass interference call with less than two minutes remaining.

The Dodgers’ comeback attempt fell just short, and Mason City had officially wiggled free from Fort Dodge’s 18-year, 17-game stranglehold.

“They made more big plays than we did,” Moser said. “They had two long touchdowns on passes, a long touchdown run, and a long kickoff return (for a score). Those four plays (collectively), along with the mistakes we made, were just too much to overcome.

“This wasn’t an effort or a heart problem. Our guys fought. I’m proud of them for not giving up (down 21-8 at halftime and 12 points without the ball late). We need to get better from Week 1 to Week 2, obviously. All of us. Myself included. We’re not playing the blame game.”

Carver, a Bemidji State University recruit, scrambled and gutted his way to 208 passing yards and touchdown tosses to three different receivers: Jondle, Opande and Grant Williams. Carver also ran for 76 yards and a TD.

Jondle, an Iowa Central recruit, had 10 receptions for 90 yards and returned two kickoffs for a combined 68 yards.

A largely uneventful, punt-filled first quarter yielded no points. That all changed in the second period, as Mason City struck for three long touchdowns – including two TD strikes from senior quarterback Kale Hobart to classmate Kaden Tyler spanning 52 and 65 yards.

Tyler decided to play football for the first time since eighth grade this fall, and it paid immediate dividends last night. He anchored the Riverhawks’ state champion 4×400-meter relay team last spring.

Fort Dodge battled back within 21-15 with 4:15 remaining in the third period, but Mason City answered with a 14-play, 69-yard scoring drive in which it moved the sticks successfully on third down four consecutive times.

The Dodgers again struck back less than two minutes later, but were within a single score for only a few seconds as Darian Davis wiggled free on the ensuing kickoff return that appeared benign until it wasn’t. Fighting out of a pile on a play that looked all but done, Davis sprinted 75 yards to paydirt for a backbreaking final Riverhawk touchdown and a 35-23 advantage.

“They converted a lot on third and fourth down,” Moser said. “We couldn’t get that one key stop. Part of that is us needing to get better and more consistent. But credit them for making the plays.

“This should hurt. I hope it does. That means you care. Now we have to channel that frustration into working hard and for each other this week in preparation for Ames.”

The Dodgers host the Little Cyclones in their home opener on Friday at 7 p.m. Ames defeated Marshalltown last night, 33-17, as returning quarterback Dallas Sauser threw for 345 yards and former Fort Dodge student Jamison Poe ran for a pair of touchdowns.

FD MC

First Downs 16 15

Rushes-Yards 21-98 28-106

Passing 20-39-2 16-29-1

Passing Yards 208 230

Total Offense 306 336

Punts-Avg. 6-29.8 4-34.0

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 10-83 5-40

Fort Dodge 0 8 7 15 — 30

Mason City 0 21 0 14 — 35

Scoring Summary

Mason City — Tavien Banks (33-yard run), 10:13 left second quarter. Brody Lee kick.

Fort Dodge — Grant Williams (8-yard pass from Connor Carver), 7:42 left second. Javion Jondle run.

Mason City — Kaden Tyler (52-yard pass from Kale Hobart), 7:33 left second. Lee kick.

Mason City — Tyler (65-yard pass from Hobart), 0:37 left second. Lee kick.

Fort Dodge — Nate Opande (24-yard pass from Carver), 4:15 left third. Parker Schillerstrom kick.

Mason City — Hobart (1-yard run), 9:09 left fourth. Brayden Miller pass from Hobart.

Fort Dodge — Carver (7-yard run), 7:25 left fourth. Carver run.

Mason City — Darian Davis (75-yard kickoff return), 7:10 left fourth. Pass failed.

Fort Dodge — Jondle (7-yard pass from Carver), 4:31 left fourth. Schillerstrom kick.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Fort Dodge: Connor Carver 10-76, Orion Larson-Trott 5-15, Javion Jondle 3-9, Tucker Pederson 3-(minus-2). Mason City: Tavien Banks 15-76, Kale Hobart 9-22, Logan Eide 4-8.

Passing — Fort Dodge: Connor Carver 20-39-2-208. Mason City: Kale Hobart 16-29-1-230.

Receiving — Fort Dodge: Javion Jondle 10-90, Ty Adams 3-57, Grant Williams 5-33, Nate Opande 2-28. Mason City: Kaden Tyler 2-117, Brayden Miller 9-64, Tate Milsap 2-19, James Miles 1-18, Mason Berger 1-10, Jorge Rivera 1-2.