Super senior sendoff

In their final opportunity of 2016, the Washington football team wanted to make sure they left their mark on Case Field.

Eighty-one points later, it?s safe to say they did just that.

?Tonight was about the seniors,? Washington football head coach Garrison Carter said. ?You couldn?t have written a better script for the way things finished. This is a group I?m so proud of.?

The Demons left the result of Friday night?s contest against Fort Madison in little doubt, picking up an 81-0 victory over the Bloodhounds in the season finale.

?I couldn?t ask for anything more,? Washington senior running back David Mares said. ?All four years and all season we worked our butts off. Many of us started on the sidelines and then earned spots on the varsity team. I don?t regret anything.?

Mares was one of nine Demons to find the end zone in the contest, picking up a pair of touchdowns, including leading the team with 93 rushing yards on the night.

The explosive performance of the team came off the heels of a crushing one-point loss, which eliminated Washington from playoff contention.

Knowing it was their final chance to play on Case Field, the seniors were especially motivated.

?Tonight was the last night for all of us and we knew that,? Mares said. ?We made sure to play our hearts out and left the field without any regrets.?

?I think the big thing that makes me proud is they didn?t quit on us or this program,? Carter said. ?That says a lot about them. It might have been easy after missing out on the playoffs. We have some prideful kids who love playing football. I can?t say enough how proud I am.?

The victory ends Washington?s season at 6-3 overall, as they were unable to claim a playoff spot under the smaller playoff format.

With the Demons in the unusual spot of ending their season with a victory, the moment was big to sink in for some of the seniors.

?It?s kind of surreal,? senior Trey Van Weelden, who notched a rushing touchdown on the night, said. ?I don?t think it?ll hit us until we hit the locker rooms and start taking off the pads.?

Van Weelden nearly started the game off with a bang, returning the opening kickoff to the end zone, but a penalty got the score called back.

Mares made up for the miscue, and opened the scoring with the Demons? first touchdown, galloping in from 35 yards out, with a Jaivonn Willis two-point conversion making it 8-0 in the opening minutes.

A Fort Madison fumble gave Washington the ball back 3 yards from the end zone, and Dalton Myers picked up a 3-yard scoring run to make it 14-0 Demons just over two minutes into the game.

A defensive three-and-out forced Fort Madison into a punt, but the snap went over the punter?s head and out the back of the end zone for a safety.

Washington got the ball back and had Tanner Murphy break free for a touchdown run, putting the Demons up 23-0.

Fort Madison fumbled the next kickoff, setting up Washington with more great field position, prompting the Demons to get another senior his first offensive touch of the season.

A designed hook-and-lateral play saw senior offensive lineman Aaron Vittetoe get the ball and rumble into the end zone from 11 yards out.

?We joked around on the scout team all year, when I would be the scout-team quarterback and Aaron would be on the line; we?d run that about once per week, and we thought why not,? Carter said. ?Sure enough, he scored a touchdown on it tonight. He?s a tremendous football player and fun to be around. It?s fun to see him have that success tonight.?

Getting into the end zone was fun for the senior in his final football game for Washington.

?We worked on it during practice,? Vittetoe said. ?It was awesome. We couldn?t ask for a better way to go out.?

That capped off a 30-point first quarter but the Demons were far from done.

Fort Madison strung together a number of runs to get deep into Washington territory for the only time during the game, but a field goal ended up being blocked.

Washington took over and didn?t wait long to strike again, as junior Sawyer Whisler picked up his first career reception and took it 83 yards for a touchdown.

?Right from the start, I knew I could beat him, and I knew Jaivonn could throw it,? Whisler said. ?I took off running and caught it. It was the best feeling.?

The Demons kept rolling with Wil Marek making a defensive stop in the end zone for a safety, and then Bryce Sinn caught a 7-yard pass for the next Demon score, as both seniors made a big impact.

Tristin Westphal-Edwards ran in a touchdown with 3:14 left in the second quarter, making it 53-0 Washington.

Whisler then was found in the end zone again, as he caught a 16-yard touchdown pass for his second catch and score of the game, making it 60-0 at the halftime break.

Mares picked up his second touchdown of the game in the third quarter, before Cade Hennigan notched a 7-yard touchdown run of his own.

Van Weelden picked up the final Demon score of the game, making it 81-0.

Although the game marked the end of the season, Carter noted that he was impressed with the way the team went out.

?Everyone?s disappointed that tonight was the last night, but the plus-side to that, was you knew that it was it,? Carter said. ?We focused all our attention on Fort Madison and that this would be the last night these kids would put on the pads. We got to see how dominant we could be.?

With a high number of seniors leaving the program after this season, the focus will be on picking up where the team left off next season.

?We have to reset our focus,? Carter said. ?We had some high expectations coming into this year. We fell short of some of the big expectations, but I think we?ll have the same expectations next year. We have to take everything one game at a time and put our best foot forward.?