The Washington Demons left the crowd slack jawed last night as not only did they beat Keokuk, but they put up 51 points while doing it.
Keokuk came out quick, and made the game look like it was going to be a long one, after stopping the Demons on their first possession on a three and out, Keokuk marched down the field in nine plays and scored a touchdown off a pass from Gabe Vandenburg to Dan Williams.
Washington’s offense woke up on their second drive, driving down the field and scoring Garret Covington’s first touchdown of the night on a two yard run, but the Chiefs responded quickly in the second quarter, running just two plays before Vandenburg went deep to Darrion Sanders for a 56 yard touchdown.
The Demons cut down the lead later in the second with a 25 yard field goal by Mason Quigley, and they cut even more down after Vandenburg threw too high for Sanders, and Alex Coker picked the ball off after slipping and returned it 60 yards down the sideline for a touchdown to put the Demons up 17-14.
Washington wasn’t done; they put up one more touchdown off a 17 yard run by Carl Sivels to go into the locker room at half up 24-14.
After halftime, the Demons continued to dominate on both side of the ball, scoring on three straight drives with touchdowns from a Daryn Seibelius passing to Tanner Knupp for 28 yards, a 39 yard run by Sivels for his second score of the night and a 17 yard run by Garrett Covington for his second score of the night.
The Demon defense stopped Keokuk on their next drive, but the one big mistake of the night for the Demons occurred when Coker and Sivels couldn’t decide who would catch a punt, and it hit them and was recovered by Keokuk. The Chiefs recovered and scored off a three yard run by Matt Nye to make the score 45-21.
The Demons punched in one final score on the night off a 19 yard third touchdown by Sivels to cap a career day for him, three touchdowns and 80 yards off eight rushes.
Washington let the Chiefs march down the field with about two minutes to go, and Vandenburg tried to make a strike to the end zone, but it was picked off by Tanner Knupp to end the game. Vandenburg went 26-36 with two touchdowns, and 236 yards and three interceptions.
After the game head coach Randy Schrader said he was just as shocked with 51 points as everyone else.
“I’ll tell you what, I really don’t know what to say,” Schrader said. “It’s one of those things where we knew we had a pretty good football team, and we were playing a really good football team, and again we were physically outmatched if you look at those guys, and I’m just proud of our kids and the way they played.”
The Demons take on Williamsburg in district play next week.