Demons sail past Clippers

One week ago, it was all about the senior, but when he was bottled up this week, the Washington football team found a way to take advantage.

A week after rushing for more than 200 yards against Marion, senior Jack Giardino was held to 18 yards rushing against Clear Creek-Amana on Friday night, but sophomore quarterback Ryan Reighard picked up the slack and picked up 202 yards on the night, helping the Demons to a 28-7 victory over the Clippers.

?You can?t stop everything,? Washington head coach Garrison Carter said. ?Jack had a big night last week, and they keyed on him, so Ryan and a few of our receivers had big nights (on Friday). Next week it could be a completely different story.?

The Demons (2-1, 1-0 in district play) earned their second straight victory of the season with the victory, while Clear Creek (0-3, 0-1 in district play) is still searching for its first win of the year after claiming the district title last season.

?It feels really good, but we have to get better in the first half,? Reighard said. ?Last game it was 7-0, and then we (turned it on). We have to get better in the first half.?

Reighard?s 202 yards rushing was a season and career high for the sophomore, but he was also impressive in the pass game, where he completed 16 passes (doubling his season total) for 141 yards and his first varsity touchdown pass of the season.

?Ryan is a special talent,? Carter said. ?He does some really nice things and we are excited to watch him grow over the next three years. Ryan threw the ball really well tonight, but all the throws he made were on point. Sometimes the receivers didn?t help him out, but tonight we proved we can (make plays in the passing game).?

Washington?s defense, led by junior Bryce Sinn?s eight tackles, was strong for the Demons, forcing seven punts and two turnovers in the game.

?We were studying their film,? Sinn said. ?We put a lot of time in there this week and it helped us learn their formations. We are one unit. We play together and I think it shows, especially tonight.?

The Demon offense was held in check for much of the early portion of the game, forced to punt on their first three possessions of the game, before finally breaking through the Clippers? defense to put Washington in the red zone in the second quarter.

On a third-and-goal play, Washington put the ball on the ground and CCA recovered the Demon fumble at the 4-yard line.

A pair of punts led to a CCA getting the ball back, but a bad pitch by the Clippers gave the Demons the ball at the Clipper 19-yard line. One play later, Reighard found sophomore Jaivonn Willis for the 19-yard touchdown pass, putting the Demons up 6-0 with 3:38 left in the first half.

After forcing another CCA punt, Washington drove down the field and Kyle Anderson nailed a 33-yard field goal with four seconds remaining to make it 9-0 at halftime.

?I don?t know what it is about this group, but they?ve been struggling coming out of the gate,? Carter said. ?The defense has been playing really well, and has kept us in the game in the first half, and then the offense gets rolling. We have to come out a little more aggressive and a little more confident.?

After halftime, the Demons kept their foot on the pedal, as a fourth-and-goal run by Reighard found the end zone from 1 yard out. Reighard sprinted to the corner of the end zone and had to dive his way across on the play, but credited the line for helping him get there.

?To be honest, I (wasn?t sure) about the play,? Reighard said. ?I used my speed to get out to the pylon and I trusted my blockers and we got a touchdown.?

Washington followed that up with a 6-yard run by Ethan Hansen, and Ryan Reighard added another touchdown run, this time on an 11-yard carry to close out the scoring for the Demons.

Clear Creek?s only points came on a blocked punt with 3:38 left in the game, which was returned 10 yards for a score, the only blemish on a stellar night for the defense.

?It?s huge,? Sinn said. ?Maybe practice will be a little easier now that we?ve proved we can do it. We still have a lot of work to do, though, because in the first quarter we didn?t play that well.?

Washington will focus on Fairfield this week, when they travel to face the Trojans for the first road district game of the season. While a lot of attention will be on the rivalry, Carter said the team needs to stay focused on themselves.

?We need to keep our heads,? Carter said. ?We are 2-1, which is great, but we can?t let that go to our heads. We have to keep working, and we have to keep striving to get better and get to the goals we want to achieve.?