Demon ‘D’ deceives ‘Dogs

WASHINGTON - Magical! A night of seemingly magical proportions occurred Friday at Case Field.

Washington head coach James Harris prepared the Demons for the mystical night with his motto, ‘There is magic in the work.' The wand waved at Class 4A powerhouse Bettendorf sprinkled the visitors with some bad football juju.

Washington saw its offense total just 99 yards to the Bulldogs' 261, but Presto! The spell cast resulted in a 19-10 victory for the Demons.

The Demons did not gain a first down until 3 minutes, 52 seconds remained in the first half, but a little abracadabra resulted in a Trashaun Willis completion to Zac Stout for 20 yards, a 37-yard reception by Jacob Miller that had him zooming through the defense and down the sideleine, then a 5-yard touchdown run by Wyatt Stout.

'We have been hammering that TD play in practice,” Stout said. 'We executed it well and I got around the outside. They didn't see it coming.”

What seemed a curse for Washington (enrollment 398) play a team with an enrollment of 1,156 in grades nine through 11 that was in the Class 4A semifinals the last three straight years, now seemed to be voodoo going the other way.

'We got down 10-nothing and it looked like we are up against the wall,” Harris said. 'The chips were down but we kept pounding. Our guys stuck together.”

Bettendorf had three plays that accounted for 103 of the 141 yards accumulated during the first half for its 10-6 halftime lead. One was a 35-yard pass that moved the ball to the Demon 4-yard line on Bettendorf's second possession. Two running plays put the ball at the 1 before Wyatt Stout dropped Bulldogs QB Tynan Numkena for a four-yard loss on third down and the visitors kicked a field goal. A two-play drive for a TD was a Kane Schmidt scamper for 31 yards and Numkena up the middle with a 37-yard carry that made the score 10-0 with 8:39 to play in the first half.

The Stout score and an enchanted halftime talk by Stout produced the witching hour for the Bulldogs and a second-half comeback by the Demons.

The second Demon series of the third quarter went from their own 20 to the Bulldog 24 on eight consecutive Stout runs, but it ended with a turnover on downs. Bettendorf's first play was a Spencer Sotelo interception at the 35 and a return to the 7-yard line.

'I saw the goal line and thought I was going in,” Sotelo said. 'I was going to score but the turf monster got me and I fell.”

Third down from the 9 and Wilx Witthoft's mojo bulled his way through the middle of the Bulldogs and into the end zone for a 12-10 Demon lead with 3:16 left in the third.

'We felt like we had something to prove, stepping up and playing a 4A school like that,” Sotelo said. 'Coach Harris, he challenged us with a great opponent but we rose to the occasion and got the job done.”

Bettendorf answered the lead change by going from its 20 to the Demon 11. A pass on second-and-8 was tipped by Sotelo, hit a Bettendorf player and Ethan Patterson snagged it out of the air deep in the end zone.

The teams traded possessions twice and the Bulldogs called a deep pass on their first play after a Washington punt. Some sleight of hand and Willis intercepts the pass short of midfield and takes it all the way back for a score. With 3:54 left in the game, the Demons have a two-possesion lead at 19-10.

'After I caught it, I thought about just going down because I was cramping, but I saw it was wide open to the right and I thought I might as well see how far I can get before the cramps make me drop,” Willis said. 'Not a single soul hit me.”

Make no mistake, all of the ‘magic' that happened was because the Demons toiled, prepared and had the recipe for the caldron of trouble they gave the Bulldogs.

'Washington has a nice team and showed us we need to get more physical,” Bettendorf head coach Aaron Wiley said. 'They have a nice defense and deserve a lot of credit. They got us stopped.”

'We got down, but we stuck together and we gave ourselves a chance,” said Willis, who was 6-of-14 passing for 78 yards. 'We earned this one, but we knew we would have to if we wanted to win it against a team like that.”

'Everybody was looking down on us, thinking we were nervous, but after halftime we were under the lights, hyped up and ready to go,” said Stout, who had 17 carries for 55 yards. 'The line gained some confidence and played their hearts out especially in the second half.”