The Washington Demons season ended last night, on a low note by losing to Winterset in round two of the 3A state football playoffs 27-21.
The Demons got the ball to start the game, and held on to it for six minutes in the first quarter, but was stopped on a fourth down attempt.
Winterset then got the ball, and took the ball 80 yards down the field on 14 plays to score their first touchdown off of a balanced offense attack, with Noah Kaldenberg punching it in from a yard.
Washington’s offensive struggles continued, as they had to punt the ball away on their second possession which went into the start of second quarter, but Tanner Knupp took charge of the defense to get them fired up, stripping the ball from Trae Gilliland, and Alex Coker recovered to take it 42 yards to paydirt to tie up the game, and that is how it went into half time, as Winterset’s kicker Drue Coffman missed a field goal from 24 yards out late in the half.
In the second half, it looked like it was going to be a new game with the Demons fired up and holding Winterset to a punt and scoring off a seven yard touchdown run by Alex Coker to take the lead 14-7.
But things can change in a hurry, after forcing Winterset to punt again, the Demons took over deep in their own zone, but the option toss from Daryn Sebelius to Coker got fumbled, and Winterset took advantage of the field position to score again with 5:23 left in the third, but Knupp again fired up the team by blocking the PAT.
Momentum shifted quickly again, with bad penalties and broken plays leading to the Demons punting again. The punt was high and took a Winterset bounce, and Tanner Knupp stopped the ball’s advance backward, but failed to pick up the ball, which Lucas Nolan took full advantage of and scooped it up and ran it in on a 38 yard touchdown punt return. The Huskies converted on the two point conversion and made the score 21-14.
Into the fourth quarter the Demons get a punt that lands inside the Winterset zone with the Demons down a touchdown, but when it rains it pours and when it pours turnovers become a problem, as a high pass is stripped and Winterset recovers. The Huskies once again marched down the field to go up 27-14 off a 25 yard touchdown run by Kaldenberg and missed PAT.
Washington made their best attempt at a come back, as they went to the air and moved down the field scoring with 1:09 left in the fourth on a two yard run by Coker, but the onside kick was recovered by the Huskies, and the game was over.
Sebelius was 13-16 with 125 yards, while Alex Coker had two touchdowns, and 34 yards on the ground.
After the game head coach Randy Shrader talked about the final drive of the game, and the seniors playing their last game of their career.
“You know our kids didn’t quit, we had a chance at the end to do some things,” Shrader said. “I’m just proud of our seniors, I’ve talked all along this year that I believe that no one gave us a snowballs chance to be where we were at. We’re normally out manned in size, and our kids just have a lot of fight in them.”
Washington ends their season at 7-4 and will graduate 12 seniors from this year’s team.