Schrader wants his Demons to get off to a fast start at Fort Madison

Washington head coach Randy Schrader said his team needs to get off to a fast start on Friday night in Fort Madison. His Demons have been outscored 38-35 in the first quarter of games this year.

?I think we have to get out of the gate fast,? Schrader said. ?We talk about that week in and week out. We can?t have bad first quarters. We just can?t. We?ve still been outscored in the first quarter by our opponents even though we closed that gap last week.?

The Demons got off to a great start last week against rival Mt. Pleasant, and led 28-0 at the end of the first quarter. And Washington scored on the first play from scrimmage when sophomore quarterback Daryn Sebelius faked a handoff and sprinted 96 yards for a touchdown.

?It was a great read,? Schrader said. ?It was a great block on the outside by Justin Hoffman to spring him. Then he kind of turned on the jets and away we went. We were pleased with the way it went.?

Washington scored on all eight of its first-half possessions and went on to blow out the Panthers 62-7. But Schrader and his coaching staff have worked hard to keep the Demons from getting big heads.

?We want to keep them humble and hungry,? Schrader said. ?If we?re able to do that and keep them focused on the task at hand these last two weeks, hopefully we?ll perform well and end up with things working in our favor in the postseason.?

Washington (4-3, 3-1 Class 3A District 7) would clinch a playoff spot with a win this week, and wins this week and next week would give the Demons the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.

Fort Madison, on the other hand, is 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the district but after one-point losses to Mt. Pleasant and Fairfield, the Bloodhounds feel they?re much better than their record shows.

?We?re 15 points away from being 5-2 right now, and we?re two points away from securing the first playoff berth in 24 years for Fort Madison,? Fort Madison head coach Todd McGhghy said.

Like the Demons, the Bloodhounds scored on their first possession last week to take a 7-0 lead at Fairfield. But Fort Madison failed to score again in the game, and suffered a heartbreaking 8-7 loss.

?We just couldn?t get any offensive productivity going,? McGhghy said. ?Our defense gave us opportunity after opportunity after opportunity, but for whatever reason, we just could not execute. Not only should we have won [that game], but we should have won it handily. But you can talk about that stuff all you want, and it comes down to we didn?t.?

McGhghy rotated junior quarterbacks Cruz Fedler and Ryley Basham in last Friday?s game against Fairfield. Fedler was 7-for-22 passing for 77 yards, and Basham was 4-for-11 for 35 yards. But neither was able to complete a simple screen pass.

?Last week we needed to complete a simple bubble screen to loosen up their linebackers, and it was sailing over their heads,? McGhghy said. ?We normally throw 1,000 of them a day in practice. It was very uncharacteristic of us, and hopefully that?s behind us.?

Schrader was impressed with the play of Fedler, who is a converted defensive end.

?We have to stop the quarterback,? Schrader said. ?He?s a good football player. They run a lot of option with him, and if he can run the football, he?s going to run it. He likes to run it, and he doesn?t have a bad arm. The do some things that are a cause for concern for us.?

The Bloodhounds want to run the football, but they haven?t had a lot of success with that this year, averaging just 153 yards per game. Senior Brady Petry is Fort Madison?s leading rusher with 312  yards and five touchdowns this season, and Fedler has added 301 yards and a score.

?Our goal is to establish the run game, take what they?re giving you, don?t turn the ball over and win the field position battle,? McGhghy said. ?We took care of every aspect of that plan last week except for offensive productivity.?

Since last week?s one-point loss, McGhghy?s Bloodhounds have worked on simplifying their option offense.

?We have worked on shrinking our game plan and sticking to a small game plan,? McGhghy said. ?We have shrunk our game plan tremendously. Instead of being mediocre at a lot of things, we?re trying to get good at a few things.?

McGhghy also hopes to use his 4-4 defense to slow down Washington?s running attack. The Demons totaled 410 yards on the ground in last week?s win over Mt. Pleasant, led by junior fullback Alex Coker?s 234 yards and four touchdowns on just 18 carries.

?They?re going to put 11 guys in the box,? Schrader said. ?Against Fairfield they had 11 guys within five yards of the football. I?m sure he?ll do the same thing to us.?

Schrader?s group has been slowed a bit by the flu bug this week.

?The flu is kind of going through us right now,? Schrader said. ?Coker wasn?t in practice yesterday. Tyler Howard wasn?t here Monday. Kyle Collier missed two days. But if we can keep everybody healthy, I think we?re OK.?

But the flu is still better than injuries, and the Demons will have everyone available on Friday night. Schrader said he expects seniors Kyle Roder and Tyler Ousey, who returned last week and saw limited action, to play a more prominent role this week.

?We?re healthy across the board,? Schrader said. ?Ousey gets better every time, and that?s going to help. Roder?s getting better. We?re as close health-wise in terms of injuries to 100 percent as we?ve been since July. That makes you feel pretty good.?

With a full roster at his disposal, Schrader wants everybody ready to go when the Demons step off the bus in Fort Madison on Friday night.

?We have to get out of the chute,? he said. ?We have to be ready to get off the bus and play.?