Washington wins big over Mt. Pleasant

MT. PLEASANT — Rivals Washington and Mt. Pleasant did battle on the gridiron Friday night in a non-district bout, which culminated into a Demon victory over the Panthers.

Washington took the lead early and never looked back, blistering to a 54-20 win over Mt. Pleasant.

It was another rough week for the Panthers, as they struggled to contain a tough Demons run game.

Washington’s Tayven Stuart had himself yet another big game in week two. He found the end zone for the Demons three times on the ground, racking up 194 yards on the night.

Stuart quickly put the finishing touches on Washington’s first two drives to make it 14-0.

“We knew it was going to be tough,” Washington head coach Nick Ehret said. “We want to be a more run oriented team and establish ourselves up front and we were able to do that.”

As for the Panthers, they struggled to get anything going on the offensive side of the ball, punting on their first two drives.

In the second quarter, Washington continued the onslaught.

Jude Brown crossed the goal line twice for the Demons in the second quarter with a two yard rushing touchdown and a 35 yard receiving touchdown to make it 26-0.

Mt. Pleasant was able to find a spark late in the second after converting a botched punt which turned into a first down and a couple big time passing completions by Panther quarterback Jacob Richtman. The drive was solidified with a three yard punch in by Zerek Venghaus and a completed two point conversion to cut the Demon lead to 26-8.

The Mt. Pleasant momentum was quickly thwarted as the Demons marched down the field with under two minutes to go and scored with 45 seconds on the clock on a 21 yard touchdown pass from Ethan Patterson to Evan Van Der Molen.

“Patty (Ethan Patterson) made some terrific plays with his feet and his arms. He’s able to do that and that’s what we need. Defensively, we had a couple breakdowns, but for the most part our front six played extremely well.”

The score was just one of the big moments for Patterson, who showed off his dual threat ability throughout the night. He would end with 130 yards passing and 123 yards on the ground.

“We saw they were manned up in the first half of the game,” Patterson said. “We weren’t hitting on those long passes and I had to get it together. In the second half we started to get it together and I trust my receivers to go get the ball.”

Washington headed into the locker room with a 33-8 advantage.

Mt. Pleasant came out of the gates strong, with Richtman’s arm leading the way once again. After two big completions by Carter Amos, Richtman was able to find Wyatt Woodsmall for the 15 yard touchdown to make it 33-14.

“Our kids started to fight in the second half and I was really proud of them for that,” Mt. Pleasant head coach Shawn Striegel said. “The score wasn’t that much improved, but they showed fight.”

Washington couldn’t be contained on the offensive end. On their next two drives, Patterson found Luke Beenblossom and Stuart for a pair of receiving touchdowns to make it 47-14.

The Panthers final score of the game came from the arm of Richtman once again, this time finding Payton Hagans for the four yard touchdown.

Stuart sealed the deal for Washington with a 35 yard touchdown run to make it 54-20.

“This is great,” Washington’s Patterson said. “It’s a great team win. Defense did their thing, offense did their thing, it was just a great team win.”

On the night, the Demons amassed a total of 467 yards, with 337 on the ground.

As for the Panthers, they couldn’t get anything going on the ground, rushing for just 30 yards. That was in large part due to the Demon’s DaShaun Westphal-Edwards, who was in the backfield at numerous occasions. He ended with four tackles for a loss.

Despite the loss, Richtman had a nice showing for the Panthers. He completed 32-42 passes for 296 yards and two touchdowns, but Washington was able to keep the damage minimal.

The win for Washington marks the 12 win in the row over Mt. Pleasant.

Washington moves to 2-0 on the season and will take on Clear Creek-Amana on Friday at home.

Mt. Pleasant drops to 0-2 on the year and will take a trip down to Keokuk to face off with the Chiefs.

“It will be the same battle this week,” Striegel said. “We’ve got to improve our blocking up front. We’ve got to improve our tackling. To me it’s those little things, because the little things will make the big things easier.”