Defense turns over Trojans

The page wasn?t just turned for the Washington football team; it was ripped out of the book.

The Demons were looking to erase their loss against Solon, and with their added motivation in a rivalry game against Fairfield, they made sure the Trojans couldn?t add to their woes.

?We knew that the playoffs are different this year and if we lose another game, our season could be over,? Washington senior Bryce Sinn said. ?We knew that we had to up it at practice and play our hardest.?

Seniors made a big impact for the Demons on the defensive side of the ball on Friday night, as they helped create five turnovers (two interceptions, three fumbles) en route to a 24-7 victory over the Trojans.

?That was a huge point of emphasis this week,? Washington head coach Garrison Carter said. ?(Defensive Coordinator James Harris) was stressing getting the ball out defensively, and all of a sudden you are seeing these forced fumbles and interceptions and that?s not an accident. That?s a big result of the defensive coaches. Huge kudos to the defensive staff for that.?

The Demons were led defensively by John Dillon, who accounted for two of the team?s turnovers, notching an interception and a fumble recovery, and was a big part of holding the Trojans to seven points on the night.

?I thought we played really well,? Dillon said. ?We stood them up when they got in the red zone. We let them drive down the field a little bit but we stopped them a few times. We did a tremendous job.?

The Demons opened up the game with a drive that stalled out in Fairfield territory, and they just missed taking the lead with a long field goal.

Washington?s defense forced a Fairfield punt, and on the next Demon offensive possession, a pair of big catches by junior Jacob Hall put the team inside the Fairfield 5-yard line.

?(Wide receivers Jacob Hall and Sawyer Whistler) have spent more time working on their game individually in the offseason than any other kid we have,? Carter said. ?It?s good to see that work pay off and translate to the field. Now we have two more guys we can trust.?

The pass plays set up a 4-yard touchdown run by Ryan Reighard to open the scoring, but a bobbled hold on the PAT left Washington at 6-0.

After trading a fumble and a turnover on downs, Fairfield drove deep into Washington territory in the second quarter. Facing a fourth-and-1, the Trojans kept their offense on the field at the Demon 11-yard line, but the Washington defense remained stout to force a turnover on downs.

Washington punted the ball away after the Trojan defense came up big, but the Demons quickly got the ball back on John Dillon?s interception late in the second quarter.

The Demons turned the ball back over as Reighard threw a pick, but a Fairfield fumble gave Washington the ball at midfield with 20 seconds left on the clock.

Reighard used a big run to put Washington at the 19-yard line, and Anthony Torres put a 31-yard field goal through the uprights as the first half came to an end.

The Demons flexed their muscles early in the second half, forcing a fumble at midfield.

A few plays later, Reighard found Jack Redlinger down the seam, and the Demon running back used his athletic ability to weave his way for a 27-yard touchdown.

?They were running a single safety on our four verticals,? Redlinger said. ?My landmark is the hash mark and everyone did their job. Ryan threw a nice ball and I made a play.?

The two-point conversion made it 17-0 over the Trojans, and gave the Demons a comfortable lead.

The defense continued its dominance into the foruth quarter, until a few penalties put the Trojans close to the goal line, where Cameron Baumann punched in a touchdown to end the shutout.

On the next drive, Washington was forced to punt, giving the Trojans hope, but the Trojans went four-and-out to turn the ball over, and Reighard capitalized with a 15-yard scoring run to end the contest.

?It was the perfect end to this week,? Carter said. ?The theme of the week was that we needed to overcome adversity and we really challenged them this week. We had a lot of adversity in this game and we rose up. I can?t say enough about the kids who stepped up for injured guys. There are a lot of good things.?

While it may not have been a perfect offensive week for the Demons? junior quarterback (10/14, 133 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs passing, 33 rushes, 4.7 yards per carry, 2 TDs rushing), Reighard said the grind-it-out win was good for the team.

?Everyone on the team made mistakes,? Reighard said. ?I made a few, but we can?t let ourselves get down about that. I don?t think it mattered if I got big runs in this game, it just mattered we came out with the win. We had good team work and it was a good team win.?

The Demons will look to homecoming now, as they will host Keokuk on Friday night. Kickoff will be bumped up to 7 p.m. for the game, as Keokuk does not have a freshman team.