Two long time Southeast Conference rivals meet on the gridiron this evening in Fairfield. The Washington Demon Football team (2-1 overall; 1-0 Class 3A District 5) continues district play tonight, traveling to Trojan Stadium to battle the Fairfield Trojans (1-2 overall).

Washington has won their previous two games after dropping the season opener to the No. 1 Pella Little Dutch (3-0 overall), 42-24 on Aug 28. The Demons outscored Marion and Clear Creek-Amana by a combined score of 70-19.

Sophomore Ryan Reighard has shown off his scrambling ability as a quarterback, leading Class 3A District 5 in rushing yards with 414 and touchdowns with six. Senior Jack Giardino sits second in the conference in rushing yards gained, collecting 284 yards in three weeks. The Demon rushing attack is facing a Trojan defense which has given up 656 yards rushing and nine rushing touchdowns over the last two weeks in losses to Albia and Knoxville.

Head coach Garrison Carter says the Trojans’ previous two opponents lined up in traditional running formations, “They have all be old school, Wing T type run formation offenses which really doesn’t really translate to what we will see on film.” Carter said, “So we have spent much of the week going off what we saw last year versus them and what they did to us last year.”

Last year’s meeting saw Washington cruise by Fairfield, 42-12, at Case Field. The Demon rushing attack collected 272 yards from scrimmage, 132 off the legs of 2015 graduate Jacob Hennigan. Senior Bryce Rickey did record 47 yards on nine carries during last year’s victory over Fairfield.

Defensively, Washington will see one of the more experienced quarterbacks in the district tonight. Junior Cameron Baughman enters his third season under center for the Trojans. Baughman, who has verbally committed to play baseball for the University of Iowa, enters the week as the district leader in passing yards with 431 and is second in touchdown throws with four. His accuracy is below average though, completing under 47 percent of his passes.

Senior Fejon Redd is the Trojans leading rusher, entering the week fourth in the district with 260 yards rushing and is tied with Giardino for second in the district with four rushing touchdowns.

Kickoff of tonight’s district showdown between Washington and Fairfield is set for 7:30 p.m. Live play-by-play coverage from Trojan Stadium in Fairfield begins with the Washington Hy-Vee Pregame Show at 7 p.m. on FM 106.1 and KCIIRadio.com.