Week Two of the high school football season will be full of pomp and pageantry for the Washington Demons, as Washington welcomes Southeast Conference rival Burlington to Case Field tonight for the 2023 home opener, a game you can hear on KCII.
With a host of new starters taking the field last week, Washington hung tough with Oskaloosa but fell on the road 28-14 in the 2023 season debut. The defense made a number of big plays, including senior defensive lineman Chase Greiner coming up with two sacks and junior defensive back Mason Morgan intercepting a pass and recovering a fumble.
What the Demons are looking for is more production for the offense. New starting running back Kael Williams rushed for 57 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, while junior quarterback Logan McDole completed 10 of 26 pass attempts for 95 yards and a score in his second career start. Washington head coach Nick Ehret tells KCII Sports that jump-starting the offense begins with a consistent run game.
“We didn’t go into last Friday’s game wanting to throw the ball that much,” Ehert says, “it’s just kind of how it turned out. That’s really been our focus this week, getting some things [in the run game] that we think we can be successful with and hopefully open up some passes off of that. We’ve just got to get better at little things and hope for a little more balance offensively.”
The Demons will face a sturdy defense when they line up against Burlington in Week Two. Despite losing 15-12 last week, the Greyhounds allowed just 169 yards to Fort Madison. The Washington defense will need to keep tabs on senior fullback Caden Schisel, who rushed for nearly 1,100 yards last season and had 142 yards on 17 carries last Friday.
Washington defeated Burlington 21-14 last season and has won two of the three meetings since the teams started playing in the Southeast Conference. You can hear all the action as the Demons duel with the Greyhounds on 106.1 FM KCII and streaming on KCIIradio.com and the KCII app. Pregame coverage begins this evening at 7.