Scheduling Bettendorf a quirk for Demons

WASHINGTON - Athletic directors oversee all aspects of an athletic program, including coaches, scheduling, budget preparation, promotion, compliance, and facility management.

Scheduling is always a complicated matter, but especially in the current times with the coronavirus, scheduling may be even tougher.

Add in the fact that a derecho storm caused a team to withdraw from the first game on the football schedule and an AD is faced with some tough choices.

As luck would have it, Washington AD Brent Van Weelden received a phone call from Bettendorf when the Demons lost Marion from its schedule because of the storm a little more than a week before the season opener.

'There wasn't very many possibilities for us to schedule someone else, so we accepted Bettendorf's offer,” Van Weelden said.

Van Weelden was either setting the Demons up for a sure loss to an elite Class 4A program or an evil genius.

Three timely interceptions, including a pick-6 from Trashaun Willis with under four minutes to go, allowed Washington to post a 19-10 win.

Class 4A has the 40 largest schools in the state. Those enrollments range from West Des Moines Valley at 2,201 to Iowa City Liberty at 846. The next 54 schools are grouped in 3A. Those enrollments range from Mason City at 810 to North Polk at 357. Washington is at 398. Bettendorf is at 1,156. Solon, which Washington plays Friday, has been a 3A school but dropped to 2A this season and it is the largest school in 2A with 350.

Bettendorf was ranked eighth in 4A in The Gazette's preseason poll. Washington received votes but did not make the Top 10 in 3A.

'We wanted to play,” Washington head coach James Harris said. 'I feel like something we've kind of lacked in the past is our early-season games haven't been measuring-stick games for us, which maybe has cost us to come up short against some of the better teams we face in the middle of the season.”

Harris and his coaching staff have a set way of doing things and practice makes perfect. Whether they play a Class 4A team or a winless team, the Demons just work on things they can control.

'We just have a bunch of great young men who have bought into our program and we show up every day and commit to the grind,” Harris said. 'We pride ourselves on our accountability and work ethic.”