A new season of high school football is here, and with it comes a renewed sense of excitement for the Washington Demons as they prepare to kick things off by hosting Oskaloosa tonight in a game you can hear on KCII.

Despite just two wins last year, Washington’s lowest in a season in well over a decade, much of the roster is back and improving under new head coach Kelly Williams, a former assistant coach on the staff and alumnus of the program.

That includes leading rusher Kael Williams, who put up nearly 600 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground as a sophomore, as well as senior starting quarterback Logan McDole and big-play senior wide receiver Mason Morgan.

On defense, senior Jude Carter and junior Caden Greiner will be leaders at linebacker, while seniors like Summit Keith and Lucas Zahs will be among the starters on the offensive and defensive lines. Williams tells KCII Sports that there is a great energy around the program.

“If somebody would walk in and observe practice, I think they would have a hard time saying we went 2-7 last year,” Williams says. “The tempo’s been great at practice, [with] players running around [and] having fun [and] coaches running around. [There is] a lot of really good things going on at practice.”

Washington will be battling an Oskaloosa team that won just three games last season, but one of those was a 28-14 victory over the Demons in the opener.

Starting quarterback Kayne Boender is back for the Indians after throwing for 1,566 yards and 10 TDs last fall, as is fellow junior AJ Walker, who led the team with 790 rushing yards and 10 scores in 2023.

You can catch the season debut of Washington Demon football in 2024 this evening on 106.1 FM KCII, as well as streaming on KCIIradio.com and the KCII1 app. Coverage starts with the homeGIRL Realty Pregame Show at 7 o’clock.