Demons and Panthers ready to renew their rivalry

Even with Friday?s big game with Mt. Pleasant looming, the Demons are spending more time thinking about themselves this week than the rival Panthers.

Washington head coach Randy Schrader felt his team lacked focus in last Friday?s 20-7 loss at No. 10 Williamsburg.

?Of the 60 offensive plays we ran last week, 25 of them were busts,? Schrader said. ?We had 25 busts, and that?s either ball security, snap, missed block, missed assignment or whatever. That?s 25 busts out of 60, and that?s only being successful 55 percent of the time. If you?re doing that in the classroom, that?s an F. So we failed.?

Schrader said that Friday?s poor performance came after a poor week of practice last week. So the Demons have been working harder in practice this week in preparation for the Panthers.

?We?re trying to get our tempo up and have our kids be physical,? Schrader said. ?There?s no down time this week. Everybody?s moving. It?s a full two hours. They?re getting their money?s worth this week.?

Schrader said after last Friday?s loss that practices would be ?old school? this week. That means more contact. And Washington?s players were in full practice gear on Wednesday rather than shorts ? or half shell as it?s called ? as they were the past few Wednesdays.

?We?re trying to make it so they?re focused,? Schrader said. ?If you notice, we?re full gear the last two days. No more half shell. It?s old-school football.?

Schrader has stressed that the most important practice of the week is on Tuesday night. And the Demons had a good practice on Tuesday, he said.

?How you practice on Tuesday determines how you play on Friday, and yesterday was much better than it was last Tuesday,? Schrader said. ?We had great ball security. Our defense got to the football. We only got beat three out of 15 plays in terms of scout. Our kids had good energy yesterday, which was good to see.?

Schrader was also pleased to see every single member of his team in a practice jersey on Wednesday night, the first time that has happened all season. Senior defensive tackle Tyler Ousey, who has not played all year after dislocating his ankle while playing in a pickup basketball game, was cleared to practice for the first time, and senior fullback and defensive end Kyle Roder, who missed the last two games after bruising his kidney and cracking some ribs in Washington?s Homecoming game, was cleared 20 minutes before practice.

?It?s just great from a feel-good standpoint,? Schrader said. ?We have not had our full team together all year. Even when we went to Simpson [camp], we didn?t have them all together. We didn?t even know if Tyler Ousey was going to come back all season. So it will be interesting to see the depth that is created on the defensive line and the offense. It?s an exciting time to be around here, finally.?

And the Demons are excited to take on rival Mt. Pleasant. The two teams haven?t played since 2009, when Parker Turner?s 30-yard field goal fluttered through the uprights with 1:02 remaining to lift Washington to a 21-20 upset of the Panthers on Homecoming.

?These guys need to understand the rivalry and the tradition between these two schools,? said Schrader, who is coaching against Mt. Pleasant for the first time. ?We stressed it all week in terms of the seniors and the rivalry?s been renewed. We have to defend the flag.?

The Iowa High School Athletic Association put the two rivals in different districts for the 2010 and 2011 seasons before bringing them back together in Class 3A?s District 7 this season.

?There should never have been a time that Washington and Mt. Pleasant [didn?t] play,? Mt. Pleasant head coach Bob Jensen said. ?It?s too bad that there was, and it should never happen again. It?s just wrong.?

But the rivalry was renewed this year, and both teams will meet at Case Field this week with a 2-1 record in the district.

?We both have one loss in the district, so there?s a lot riding on this game,? Schrader said. ?This is a big football game at this point in the season. It?s just like last week. Every one of them is big from here on out.?

Mt. Pleasant has struggled at times this season, losing its first three non-district games by an average of 47.7 points, but the Panthers started out 2-0 in district play before losing to Fairfield 33-10 at home last week.

?Really our biggest problem is mental toughness,? Jensen said. ?We haven?t been consistent in staying mentally tough. If something goes wrong, the team gets down. By the time they work themselves out of it, the game is out of reach. We have to [stay tough], and if we do, we?ll be in the game. If we don?t, then we won?t, because Washington will play like that.?

The Panthers have had some success through the air this season, and senior quarterback Connor Shull has completed 52 percent of his passes for 761 yards and four touchdowns while throwing six interceptions. His main target has been senior Dalton Conrad, who has caught 22 passes for 417 yards and two scores.

Still, Schrader hopes to force the Panthers to put the ball in the air.

?They throw the ball well, but our big thing, like it always is, is we want to stop the run and make them throw the football because that kind of plays into our strength,? he said.

Stopping Mt. Pleasant?s running game shouldn?t be too difficult. The Panthers are averaging jut 1.3 yards per carry this season, led by junior Josh Larson?s 196 yards and three touchdowns. Jensen said his team would need more production from his running game to get a win at Case Field on Friday night.

?We have to be able to run the ball some,? he said. ?Our problem on offense is that we give up negative plays, whether it?s penalties, a sack, or a tackle for loss. If we get out there and run three plays without making a mistake, we?ll get a first down.?

Schrader?s Demons will also be trying to avoid the negative play on Friday night. Nearly half of Washington?s offensive plays were for a loss or no gain last week in Williamsburg, and the Demons also fumbled five times.

?We cannot have 45 percent of our plays as a bust,? Schrader said. ?We can?t score 55 percent on the offensive side of the ball and expect to be successful. There?s just no way.?