A new season of high school football has arrived, and the Washington Demons will kick off their latest campaign tonight on the road against the Oskaloosa Indians, a game you can hear on KCII, your home for Demon football this fall. Washington has seen similar results the last two seasons, going 10-10 combined over that stretch but starting each of those seasons with back-to-back wins.

The Demons finished last year on a three-game win streak, but there will be plenty of talent to replace like leading rusher Tayven Stuart, starting quarterback Ethan Patterson and all-conference defensive lineman DeShaun Westphal-Edwards.

Most of the familiar faces for Washington are on the defensive side of the ball. Starting linebacker Casen Evans is back after he was second on the team with 66 tackles as a junior. Senior lineman Chase Greiner and Nicolaus Dittrich also return, as does junior defensive back Mason Morgan.

On offense, Demon junior Logan McDole is the new starting quarterback, with sophomore Kael Williams getting his first varsity snaps as the starting running back. Senior Luke Beenblossom returns as a starter at wide receiver, as do junior offensive linemen Summit Keith and Lucas Zahs. Washington head coach Nick Ehret tells KCII Sports that, after a long summer of practice, he believes his new-look team is ready for the real deal.

“Having a scrimmage last Friday definitely helps,” Ehret says. “You get to against someone else, in a more controlled environment obviously, but it’s nice to get those first hits out of the way. We’ve had our starters pretty much set for the last couple of weeks, so they’ve been getting a lot of the reps [in practice]. The big thing for us, especially this week, is just [if] we handle the heat and [if] we handle a full 48 minutes.”

Washington moves up in competition to start the season, as the Class 3A Demons will face a 4A opponent in Oskaloosa. The Indians were 1-8 last season but return senior quarterback Trevor Willett, who passed for over 1,400 yards last season.

You can hear Washington battle Osky in the season opener of Demon Football on KCII this evening on 106.1 FM and streaming on KCIIradio.com and the KCII app, with pregame coverage beginning at 7 o’clock following the KCII Football Friday Preview Show.