Building a lead and hanging on for dear life was a victorious recipe for the Washington Demon football team on Friday when they traveled to Fairfield for week eight and came home with a 17-14 win.
As heard on KCII, the Demons scored a conventional 17 points in the first half in an unconventional way that started with a safety late in the first quarter. Ethan Patterson channeled his inner Tory Taylor (Iowa Hawkeye punter, where have you been?) by having a corner punt that went out of bounds at the one. Two plays later the defensive line got in the backfield for the two points and on the ensuing kickoff Patterson had a reverse to Ethan Zieglowsky, who took it 70 yards to the house. Up 9-0, the advantage grew on the rare second safety of the evening when Fairfield was backed up again and had a botched snap on a punt that went out of the end zone. Already scoring on defense and special teams, the offense joined the party in the second when they marched down the field capped off by a 6-yard Tayven Stuart run. A missed PAT made it 17-0 and that was all the Demons would have the rest of the night. The Trojans received some momentum right before half on a long touchdown drive to cut it to 17-7 and then inched closer late in the third on a 19-yard pitch and catch from Tate Allen to Evan Haines. Fairfield had a golden opportunity to tie it up early in the fourth, but a 37-yard field goal attempt was missed right and both teams battled in a stalemate the rest of the way. Washington amassed 282 total yards compared to Fairfield’s 178. Patterson completed five of eight passes for 56 yards and added 106 on the ground. Kasen Bailey hauled in two receptions for 43 yards while the defense was led by Casen Evans, Zander Laws, and Kole Williams each with a pair of tackles for loss.
Head Coach Nick Ehret tells KCII Sports the special teams touchdown was a big momentum score. “We have worked on that reverse. It is like when you get a turnover, you take a shot downfield. Well, we got a safety so let’s take a shot. Zieg made a great run and got great downfield blocking. Those type of things add up and in the end it was the difference.”
Washington improves to 3-5 overall and 2-2 in the district. They will conclude the season next week at West Burlington (0-8). Fairfield is now 5-3, 2-2, and is in a must-win scenario Friday at Grinnell (5-3).