It’s the first Friday night under the lights at Case Field for the Washington Demon football team when they open the 2022 campaign with a non-district clash against Burlington.
It is new beginnings for a Demon squad that will try to bounce back from a 4-5 season in 2021 where they started 1-5 and won their last three games. Developing line depth will be a key to the orange and black’s success this year and they will be led by all-district performer Brayden Hartman on the offensive side with his 6’4’’ 290 pound frame and 6’3’’ 245 pound DaShaun Westphal-Edwards anchors a defense after 36 tackles last fall. Dual-threat quarterback Ethan Patterson returns for his senior season after throwing for 1,553 yards and 14 touchdowns to go along with 665 rushing yards and 11 scores. Tayven Stuart will get a bulk of the carries in the backfield after 331 rushing yards as a junior. The Grayhounds broke out last year with a 7-3 campaign, their first winning season since 2010. A big reason why was stud running back Bryant Williams and his 2,226 rushing yards. Good news for opponents everywhere is Williams has graduated, but Burlington brings back a few pieces including Alex Fawcett with his 179 receiving yards and Trent Huffman’s 35 tackles defensively. Burlington handled Washington 39-18 in last year’s meeting.
Second year Demon head coach Nick Ehret tells KCII Sports his boys will have to bring their hard hats tonight. “They play a very physical brand of football and that is something we will have to take on. Our team has gone to a more physical brand of play in practice and I’m hoping our defense will be ready for that. Burlington had a tremendous season last year and they are riding a lot of momentum. We are expecting a physical game and we have to be up for the challenge.”
The week one showdown begins at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Washington. Listen to all of the action on FM 106.1 KCII, kciiradio.com, and the free KCII Mobile App with the KCII Football Friday Preview Show beginning at 6 p.m. and we will take over from Case Field at 7 p.m.