Friday Nights in the fall are always special for any high school football player and maybe even more so when your rival is staring back at you on the other side of the ball. One of the better Southeast Iowa rivalries will take place in Mount Pleasant tonight when Washington makes the short drive to face the Panthers. 

After getting punched in the mouth early, the Demons punched back last week in their opener against Burlington to come out with a hard fought 21-14 win. Tayven Stuart had three end zone trips while carrying the rock 20 times for 120 yards. Despite giving up 219 rushing yards, the defense stepped up when they needed and they were led by James Strabala with 11 tackles. Mount Pleasant was 1-8 in 2021 and they opened the new season last week in a 41-20 loss to Fairfield. Jacob Richtman was a bright spot completing 21 of 32 throws for 169 yards and two touchdowns. 

Demon Head Coach Nick Ehret knows his team needs no extra motivation for tonight. “This is a great rivalry between two schools that are close together. The games are always tight and it was last year. Going to their place is a tough environment so we will have to play our best game for sure.”

Washington held bragging rights the last decade plus winning 11 in a row in the series including a 22-0 victory last season. 

The rivalry gets underway at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Mapleleaf Athletic Complex. Tune in starting at 6 p.m. for our KCII Football Friday Preview Show and at 7 p.m. we will take over from Mount Pleasant on FM 106.1 KCII, kciiradio.com, and the free KCII Mobile App.