Washington freshmen fall at Fort Madison

The Washington freshman football team had a tough night in Fort Madison on Friday night, falling to the Bloodhounds 49-14 at Richmond Stadium.

?We shot ourselves in the foot all night long,? Washington head coach Jay Zieglowsky said. ?We would do some nice things, and then we?d do a bad thing. We recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff and began to drive, but then had a penalty. We turned the ball over on downs, and their second play was a 78-yard touchdown pass.

?On our second possession we drove, then we stalled, and then we messed up the punt snap and had a 5-yard punt and gave them the ball at the 32-yard line. The next possession we fumbled on our first play and gave them the ball at the 31-yard line. Then Christian Mejia had a nice kickoff return to their 48-yard line, and we got to their 30, but came up a yard short on fourth-and-2. We just shot ourselves in the foot.?

The Demons trailed 26-0 at halftime and fell behind 49-0 before they finally scored twice late in the game.

?Again, big plays killed us,? Zieglowsky said.

Ethan Hansen rushed for 61 yards on 12 carries, including a 37-yard touchdown. Christian Mejia added 57 yards on 12 attempts for the Demons, and Bryce Rickey ran for a two-point conversion.

Jack Giardino was 4-for-7 passing for 70 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown pass to Dakota Suchan. Suchan caught a pair of passes for 34 yards, and Jacob Mask had a 31-yard reception. Mejia also caught one pass for five yards.

Giardino led the Demon defense with 10 tackles, and Rickey made six stops. Mejia made five tackles and recovered a fumble, and Hansen also recovered a fumble.

The Demons will be without Mejia, who suffered a severe concussion in Friday?s game at Fort Madison, and Lane Burlingame, who has a strained knee, when they host Centerville in this Friday?s season finale at Case Field.

Zieglowsky hopes his team, which is now 2-6 on the season, learned from last Friday?s loss.

?It?s a learning process,? he said. ?We always talk about having 11 guys on the football field at a time and we?re only as strong as our weakest link. If one guy doesn?t do his job, it hurts us.?