Washington’s offense battles during last year’s alumni football game against Mount Pleasant at Case Field in Washington. Photo by KCII’s Sally Hart.

Former Washington Demon football stars will throw on the pads this weekend to raise money for a local charity event. Last summer, the inaugural Alumni Football USA game between the Mount Pleasant Panthers and Washington Demons brought in seven thousand dollars to benefit the local schools.

Don Miksch, the head coach of Washington’s alumni football team, said the idea of alumni football in Southeast Iowa began with a couple of small schools in the area, “WACO played Winfield the year prior to our game,” Miksch said, “I think once the locals saw that game occur, there was quite a bit of interest from the Washington Community.”

The first ever Washington vs. Mount Pleasant alumni game was played last season at Case Field as a part of Washington’s 175th celebration. The Demons fell in the showdown 21-20, missing two extra points in the setback.

Demon alum Adam Mangold says the ages of the players vary on the team, “I would say I am one of the older graduates on the team, I graduated back in 1993.” Mangold said, “I think the oldest player is 46 years old, a graduate of 1986. The youngest we have on the team is 19, maybe 18 years old.”

Nearly $6000 has been raised already this year’s event, with Washington’s portion benefitting the Rock ‘n’ Ride Charity bike event July 11th. The 18 mile bike ride will be held in memory of Kim Friese and Karen Van Osdol, who each lost a multiple year battle with cancer.

Miksch said don’t wait to purchase your tickets for this event, “The big thing for us is making sure we get tickets sold prior to the day of the game so we can get as much money to our charity as we can.”

Tickets sold the day of the game will go directly to Alumni Football USA and not to the Rock ‘n’ Ride Charity bike event. Tickets are being sold at the Washington Chamber of Commerce, Unc and Neph’s, or buy a ticket from any member of the alumni football team. For more information about this weekend’s alumni football game, listen to an interview with Misch and Mangold on the PM Sports Page at 6 p.m. on AM/FM KCII.