If you’re a defensive football purist, prepare your mind to be blown. Negative 51 rushing yards allowed, negative 25 total yards, 14 tackles for loss, and one first down given up. No, those are not the stats from my latest Madden game, those gaudy numbers were an actual result last night at Case Field when Washington pitched their first shutout of the season in a 69-0 woodshed beating of Burlington.

Going backwards was a common occurence for the Grayhounds (1-4), as they were behind the sticks all night and picked up their only first down late in the second half on a penalty. Burlington coughed the rock up three times with a pick-six to Ethan Zieglowsky from 55 yards out and Zayne Laws enjoying Senior Night with a pair of fumble recoveries. With the Demon defense doing their thing, the opportunities were served on a platter for the offense and feasting is what they did best. Washington tallied five first quarter touchdowns to lead 36-0 after one, 55-0 at the break, and the reserves never missed a beat in the second half. Wyatt Stout returned from injury and the senior had himself a night with a pair of scores on seven carries with 83 yards rushing. Trashaun Willis, Wilx Witthoft, and John Prochaska each ran in for a score while Willis, Prochaska, and Ethan Patterson combined to go eight for nine passing for 88 yards and four touchdowns. Spencer Sotelo was on the receiving end of two of those, Reece Mayer added one, and James Strabala reached the end zone for the first time in his career. DeShaun Westphal-Edwards showed off his potential with a pair of sacks and eight tackles to lead that side of the ball.

Head Coach James Harris tells KCII Sports the reserves were balling out in the second half. “I think you saw with our second team guys that we bring out some pretty good talent. That is what is great about getting up big is you get some of these younger guys an opportunity to play under the lights and they see what that feels like. That is how we get them hungry and how we get that commitment in the offseason. If you want to experience that feeling of shining under the Friday Night Lights it depends on what you are doing when no one is watching.”

Washington moves to 6-0 on the season and 4-0 in class 3A district five. They look to cap off a perfect regular season and seize their first district crown since 2013 on Friday when they make a trip to Keokuk.