The upset minded Washington Demon football team never gained much traction in Friday night’s class 3A district 5 showdown at Case Field when No. 3 Solon came into town and rolled to a 44-21 victory.
The Demon defense has struggled with big plays this season and the trend continued in this one with the Spartans racing out to a 21-0 lead after just two plays on offense in the first seven minutes. A quick three and out for Washington to start the game was countered with a Blake Timmons to Sean Stahle 80-yard connection on their first play from scrimmage. A few minutes later Timmons found Carson Miller from 55-yards out and then the special teams joined the party with an 80-yard punt return for a score. Trying to find their footing, Washington was able to generate one big play themselves on a 66-yard passing touchdown from Ethan Patterson to Lucas Kroll. The Spartans answered on a one-handed Jacob Quillen grab in the end zone to take a 28-7 advantage into half. The road squad continued to add to their lead with the disparity being as high as 44-7 when Patterson added scores of four and one yard to draw closer. Solon outgained Washington 365-169 yards with Timmons being responsible for 293 yards and four touchdowns. Patterson was nine of 25 through the air for 100 yards and a touchdown with the two on the ground. Deshaun Westphal-Edwards led the defense with two tackles for a loss and a pair of pass deflections.
Washington Head Coach Nick Ehret tells KCII Sports they fell behind the eight ball early. “Unfortunately, it has been the story of our season. They ran a couple things to start the game that got us out of position and then on the punt return we missed a couple tackles. We dug ourselves a huge hole, but then we play them 7-7 the rest of the half. Our boys continue to play hard, but we just put ourselves in a tough spot to start and then have to spend the entire game clawing back.”
The loss knocks the Demons out of playoff contention with a 1-5 overall mark and 0-2 record in the league. They host Keokuk for homecoming next week.