Black (and orange) Friday

Coming into the season, many people on the outside saw this year as a rebuilding season for Washington football.

Well, if a 7-3 record and second place in the district is the Demons? style of rebuilding, who knows how high they?ll get when the product is finished.

With the success of this season, Washington made their marks on the postseason awards list, and three Demons were named among the best in the state of Iowa on Wednesday.

?That?s obviously something we are very proud of and something I personally push hard for,? Washington head coach Garrison Carter said. ?Having three kids on there is great and we had a few other kids who I thought deserved to be on there as well.?

Leading the charge was the Demons? lone first-team All-State selection, sophomore Jaivonn Willis, who earned a spot on the Class 3A defense as a cornerback.

Willis led the Demons with four interceptions this season, while routinely covering opponents? top receiver.

Of the opponents the Demons faced this season, three had wide receivers earn All-State honors, including Davenport Assumption?s Will Ontiveros, who was a first-team selection.

Pella also had two receivers make the All-State list, but as first- and third-team defensive backs.

Willis also made his presence felt on the offensive side of the ball, leading the district in receiving yards, with 785, and receiving touchdowns with 10.

?Jaivonn could have made this list on either side of the ball,? Carter said. ?He?s a first-team All-State talent, that?s for sure. He?s an extremely gifted athlete, and defensively, shut down some of the best receivers in the state. To have the year he had covering the guys he did, is very impressive.?

Throwing the ball to Willis was another sophomore, quarterback Ryan Reighard, who earned a spot on the Class 3A third-team All-State list.

Reighard hadn?t played quarterback in an organized football setting before he was switched to quarterback in the offseason, but the athletic sophomore made the transition look easy.

Passing the ball, Reighard completed 61 percent of his passes, en route to accumulating 1,252 yards through the air and 11 touchdowns to just six interceptions, but the Demon sophomore made much of an impact with his legs.

Posting district-high numbers in rushing yards (1,526) and rushing touchdowns (21), Reighard averaged 6.2 yards per carry as the Demon quarterback.

?Ryan exceeded everybody?s expectations this year,? Carter said. ?We knew he?d be a talented kid and we knew we could win football games with him at quarterback, but we didn?t know what we?d get out of him during Year One of this process. His recognition is well deserved.?

With Reighard looking to enter his second season as the Demons? signal caller in 2016, Carter said the goal is to remove the stigma of the sophomore being a running quarterback.

?For his personal goals, he doesn?t want to be known as a kid who is playing quarterback for his ability to run the ball,? Carter said. ?He wants to throw it as well as anyone in the state, and he?s extremely competitive. His offseason is going to be spent working on that.

However, those gaudy offensive stats might not have been there if it weren?t for the third member of the Washington football team to earn All-State recognition.

Junior left tackle Seth Townsend helped pave the way for many of those yards, and earned a third-team All-State nod, making it the third straight year the Demons have produced an All-State offensive lineman.

Townsend was the anchor on an offensive line that paved the way for 244 rushing yards per game, and 383.6 total yards per game.

However, while the Demon junior was honored for his work on the offensive line, he was a key part of the defensive line, posting 51 tackles and five tackles for a loss this season.

?Seth is a two-year starter for us on both sides of the ball, and that?s pretty difficult to do at those positions,? Carter said. ?He?s excelled at it. He might be a little undersized to play tackle, but he?s so athletic and technically perfect. He?s a physical kid and needs to be on this list.?

With the offensive line being a cohesive unit, and senior Tanner Renoux being named to the first-team All-District team, Carter said all five of the offensive linemen (Townsend, Renoux, Mark Engleken, Aaron Vittetoe and Gabe Greiner) deserve recognition.

?I nominated all five of our starters,? Carter said. ?How do you pick just one? Seth is extremely talented and he has four other guys around him that are deserving of that recognition.?

The Demons will graduate a number of talented seniors this season, but with a strong returning corps, they appear primed for a lot of success in the next couple of years.