Washington throttles Burlington in season opener

WASHINGTON — Back in 2021, Burlington got the better of Washington in the two’s regular season clash.

Things were a bit different when the two went head to head to mark the beginning of the 2022 football season on Friday night.

This time around it was Washington suppressing an early Grayhound attack to hold on for a 21-14 victory.

Burlington wasted no time in its opening drive. The Grayhounds leisurely marched the ball down the field, eventually punching it in from 14 yards out for a 6-0 lead.

The Demons were slow to get things rolling on the offensive end, beginning with a three and out.

With the Grayhounds getting the ball back, they were in perfect position to take a commanding lead, but everything changed.

The Grayhounds began to march the ball once again, but fumbled just before the end of the first quarter.

Following the turnover, it was all Washington.

Starting at their own 16, the Demons moved the ball down the field, capping off the drive with a 25 yard touchdown run by Tayven Stuart. With a successful extra point, Washington took a 7-6 lead.

For Stuart, the rushing touchdown was just the beginning of a great night on the ground. He would finish with three touchdowns and 120 yards.

“The O-line made great gaps for me to fit in,” Stuart said. “I just sprinted through the hole and put my head down and saw how far I could go.”

Washington’s 14th points of the game came a drive later, after yet another Burlington fumble put them in great field position. This time Stuart took it in from five yards out to make it 14-6.

That would be the final score of the first half as Burlington turned the ball over on fourth down and Washington ran out the clock.

To start the second half, the Demons threw an interception, but nothing came of it as the Washington defense forced the Grayhounds to punt.

On the next drive, Stuart handled the finishing touches once again, rushing it in for another five yard score, making it 21-6.

It wasn’t over yet though.

After turnovers from each team, Burlington moved the ball down the field on its next drive, but Washington was able to force a 4th and 14.

The Grayhounds were able to answer though.

With a lofted ball over the middle of the field, Burlington scored from 30 yards out and completed the two point conversion to cut the lead to 21-14.

Burlington got the ball back one final time with just over a minute to play, but back to back fumbles and a big sack on fourth down by Washington allowed the Demons to take victory formation.

“The big plays really hurt us all of last year, but our defense really stood tall tonight,” Washington head coach Nick Ehret said. “We were rotating a lot of guys to try and keep them fresh and we controlled the line of scrimmage as the game went on. We have a lot of inexperience on the defense and at times we showed our youth, but I was really proud with their resolve and grit. They got stops when we needed them and that is important.”

The Demons finished with 269 yards of total offense on the night. Jude Brown followed Stuart with 61 rushing yards on seven carries. Quarterback Ethan Patterson finished with 52 yards on eight carries.

Washington, now 1-0, will take on Southeast Conference foe Mt. Pleasant (0-1) on the road in its next game.