Demons move to 3-0 over MP

The Washington-Mt. Pleasant rivalry was renewed on Friday night at Mapleleaf Athletic complex in Mt. Pleasant when the No. 3 ranked Demons defeated the Panthers, 47-12.

The district opener looked like a defensive struggle for half of the first quarter, but the Demons hit three big plays in three minutes to set the tone at the end of the period.

With 4:05 left in the quarter, Washington quarterback Ryan Reighard found Jaivonn Willis over the defense on a deep pass toward the end zone. Willis made the catch and scampered in for the score, making it 6-0 early.

Mt. Pleasant?s Levi Puig answered with a big return to the Panther 43-yard line and the Panthers got the ball to around midfield, but the Washington defense held the Panthers on fourth and short to steal momentum and take over on downs.

After getting possession back, Washington junior Jack Redlinger took a sweep to the right side and sprinted past the Mt. Pleasant defense for a 49-yard score. Reighard ran the ball in for the two-point conversion and it was 14-0 Demons.

The Demons? big run continued when Mt. Pleasant was unable to scoop up the ensuing kickoff. The ball bounced at the Mt. Pleasant 30-yard line and no Panther was able to get to it, allowing Washington to get to the ball and complete an accidental onside kick.

On the very next play, Reighard threw the ball to the end zone and Willis caught the ball for his second score of the night, and the team?s third. The conversion attempt was no good, but the Demons led, 20-0 late in the first.

Mt. Pleasant?s Pat Canby ran for a first down over midfield on the next Panther possession, and it looked like Mt. Pleasant could cut into the lead, but a fortunate bounce and a great play on defense gave the Demons a turnover.

Panther quarterback Zach Beason attempted to find Chase Lamm on route to the right side, but the ball was deflected up in the air and picked off by Jacob Reighard, giving the Demons the ball back to start the second quarter.

Willis scored his third touchdown with a 39-yard jet sweep early in the second quarter to make it 26-0, but the Panthers were able to cut into the lead midway through the quarter.

Mt. Pleasant worked the ball into the red zone thanks to a few big runs by Beason and Canby. Canby punched the ball in on a 4-yard touchdown run, and it was 26-6 with 5:11 left in the half.

Washington wasn?t done scoring, however. Tristin Westphal-Edwards  scored on a 9-yard touchdown run with 3:01 remaining, and Ryan Reighard added a 10-yard rushing score of his own. Logan Escher hit the extra point after both and the Demons led, 40-6 at halftime.

?Mt. Pleasant?s game plan was simply not to let Ryan beat them running the ball,? Washington head coach Garrison Carter said. ?I was really proud of how well our other offensive guys were able to step up and make plays.?

Mt. Pleasant turned things around in the second half, especially defensively. The Panthers were able to hold the Washington offense scoreless, but the Demon defense had one more big play left in them.

With just under seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, Beason?s pass was picked off by junior Dalton Myers, who ran it back 84 yards for a touchdown. Another Escher extra point made it 47-6, where it would stay after three quarters.

?Dalton had another nice game,? said Carter after the game. ?He is a very talented player. His pick-six was one of the biggest plays of the night.?

Mt. Pleasant was able to cut into the lead late in the game on another rushing touchdown. Brody McGhghy took a handoff to the right side and found the end zone to finish the scoring off, at 47-12.

?We went into the game to stop Ryan Rieghard,? said Mt. Pleasant coach Shawn Striegel about the loss. ?He had so many yards rushing (coming in). We knew they were explosive.?

Striegel said he was proud of his team?s second-half performance after the wheels fell off in the first half.

?We told (the players), we?re going to take it one play at a time,? he said. ?We weren?t going to give up. We were going to fight to the end. I thought the kids responded well.?

Washington moved to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in district play with the win and will have a huge home game against Solon on Friday, Sept. 16, at 7:30 p.m.

?There?s no secret that this is a huge game,? Carter said. ?They knocked us out of the playoffs last season and return a lot of guys of that team. They will have a solid game plan to slow us down.  We will need to have a great week of practice, and we will need to be firing on all cylinders on Friday.?