Meaningful football awaits Washington tonight in the regular season finale when they try to give themselves a chance at the playoffs with a class 3A district 5 bout hosting West Burlington. 

Class 3A has a field of 16 that will make the postseason with Washington at 22 in the RPI rankings. The top two in each district receive an automatic bid and four wildcard spots will be given to the next four highest RPI ranked teams. Solon has secured the top spot with Grinnell, Fairfield, and Washington vying for the second and in case of a tie, the automatic qualifier will go to the highest RPI ranked team. Grinnell currently sits at 17 and Fairfield is at 23. In short, the Demons will need some outside help, but the only thing they can control is try to beat a Falcon squad that sits at 2-6 overall and 1-3 in the league. They are fresh off of their top win of the season by controlling Keokuk 24-7 last week. Hayden Vandenberg rushed for three scores with 145 yards. Caden Schwenkel has completed 51% of his passes and collected 1,194 total yards with nine touchdowns. Washington is 4-4 overall, 2-2 in the district, and are also coming off their most impressive win of the fall by coming back from 20 down to beat Fairfield 35-28. The offensive line paved the way for Tayven Stuart to go off for 164 rushing yards and two house calls to make for 856 yards and 12 touchdowns on the campaign. The orange and black will have to navigate the offense without quarterback Ethan Patterson and his 827 total yards after the senior suffered an injury in the fourth quarter of last week’s game. Sophomore Logan McDole will make his first start under center. Washington worked hard for a 34-20 win in last year’s season finale with the Falcons. 

The week nine matchup begins at 7 p.m. tonight in Washington. Our KCII Football Friday Preview Show is bumped up to 5:30 p.m. and we will take over from Case Field at 6:30 p.m.