Demons ready for another big game in Williamsburg

Last year, Washington traveled to Williamsburg on the final week of the regular season, needing a win in order to qualify for the state playoffs.

This year?s game between the Demons and Raiders, which will also be played at Williamsburg?s Bob Murphy Stadium, will be just as important. No. 10 Williamsburg enters the contest 3-0 in Class 3A?s District 7, and Washington is 2-0 in district play, so the winner of Friday?s game will have the inside track to the district title.

?It?s for who?s going to be in the driver?s seat,? Washington head coach Randy Schrader said.

For the Demons, a win on Friday would go a long way toward the team reaching one of its goals.

?Our seniors, as we set our goals, obviously one was to go out and win our first game, and then to beat Keokuk, and then it?s getting into that second round [of the playoffs],? Schrader said. ?We talked about that. One way to get into the second round is to be a No. 1 seed and you?re facing a No. 4 from another district.?

The Raiders have had this game circled on their calendar since the state released the schedule earlier this year.

?Since the schedule came out, we knew that Washington would probably be the biggest game on our schedule,? Williamsburg head coach Curt Ritchie said. ?We knew this game would be a big game for a while now. We?re not surprised it came down to this one. We knew we were heading in this direction.?

Ritchie?s team knew this game could decide the district champion, and that?s why his team had this game circled on the calendar. Not because Washington scored two touchdowns in the final 4:10 of last year?s game to rally for a 21-14 win over the Raiders.

?Truthfully, our emphasis since the beginning of the year was to leave last year in last year and move on,? Ritchie said. ?There were a lot of things we weren?t happy with last year, and we?ve worked hard to change those things. The Washington game was kind of what was wrong with our whole season in general. Since the season ended last year, we?ve worked hard to correct those things.?

One of those things the Raiders have worked to correct is stressing the importance of playing all four quarters and every play with maximum effort.

?We took a lot of mental breaks and physical breaks during our games last year,? Ritchie said. ?This year we want to finish the workout, finish the practice and finish the game. Even though last week we felt like we finished the game (in a 42-7 win at Fairfield), we had a few drives in the first half where we felt like we didn?t execute very well. We definitely won?t be able to do that this week.?

Williamsburg seems to have gotten back on track this season. After a Week 1 loss to Grinnell, which is currently ranked fourth in Class 3A, the Raiders have rattled off four straight wins by an average of 31.8 points per game.

?They lost to a really good Grinnell team and beat a really good Central DeWitt team,? Schrader said of the Raiders. ?They?re undefeated and 3-0 in the league. They?re the league leaders.?

Behind a big offensive line, the Raiders tend to keep the football on the ground, rushing for 217.6 yards per game. Senior tailback Chance Miller has rushed for 303 yards and eight touchdowns this season, and junior Nick Spratt has added 190 yards and four scores. Senior fullback Bryan MacDonald has rushed for 150 yards and two scores this year, and senior quarterback Chance Wetjen has run for three touchdowns.

?They have a good running back and a good defensive line,? Schrader said of the Raiders. ?They?re smashmouth, double tight, and the line up foot-to-foot and go.?

Williamsburg?s offensive linemen average 252 points, while Washington?s four starting defensive linemen don?t even average 200 pounds. But the Demons? last two opponents had a similar advantage, and Washington?s linemen held their own in those two games.

The Demons also like to run the football, and gained a season-high 289 yards on the ground in last week?s 51-21 win over Keokuk at Case Field.

?I think our offensive line just kind of jelled,? Schrader said. ?I think that really was the difference. And our backs started hitting the holes where they needed to hit them. They weren?t picking and choosing.?

Junior Carl Sivels got his first carries of the season in that game, and he rushed for 98 yards and three touchdowns on just eight attempts. Junior fullback Garrett Covington added 75 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, and junior Alex Coker chipped in 72 yards on 14 attempts.

Schrader was very pleased with his team?s performance in the blowout win over Keokuk.

?To say I was surprised, that is probably a true statement,? he said with a chuckle.

The task will be for Ritchie?s defense to slow down Washington?s running backs. Williamsburg has allowed its opponents to rush for 142.6 yards per game this season, although the Raiders have yielded just 65.3 rushing yards per game in their three district wins.

?We?ve given up plenty of yards this year,? Ritchie said. ?We have plenty of work to do on the defensive side of the ball. We have to keep big plays from happening. That?s been our main concern all week because they have so many guys with good speed. We want to make them drive the ball.?

Both the Demons and the Raiders have only thrown the ball when they?ve had to this year. Washington sophomore quarterback Daryn Sebelius has completed 63 percent of his passes for 447 yards and three touchdowns, while Williamsburg senior Chance Wetjen has completed 45 percent of his throws for 348 yards and three scores. Neither signal caller has thrown an interception. Still, Schrader would like to force the Raiders to throw the ball this week.

?We?d like to make them throw the football to beat us because that allows us to get our back end guys more involved in what we?re trying to accomplish,? he said.

What the Demons are trying to accomplish is simple: they?re trying to get a key road win to improve to 3-0 in district play. And Williamsburg is trying to improve to 4-0 in the league.

?We?re down to the final couple of games in the district, so it will be a huge step for whichever team comes out on top,? Ritchie said. ?It?s going to be a good Friday night football game.?