Warriors hosting

The first ever December home game at Reed Field is about to unfold this Friday at 7 p.m.

That’s when Washington will host the Beggs Demons with a trip to the State Finals on the line.

Beggs’ only losses have come to Metro Christian and Lincoln Christian.

Otherwise, they have been rough-shodding over their opponents on their way to the State Semifinals.

“They are very, very talented at the skill positions on both sides of the ball,” Washington Head Coach Brad Beller said. “They have one of the top running backs in the state regardless of class and a wide receiver, Kendal Daniels that is one of the top five recruits in the state and is headed to play college football at Texas A&M.

“They are very talented and play physical and with aggression on both sides of the ball,” Beller continued. “In their area, they are the Millwood.

“They speed teams up so fast with their aggression and athletic ability that it gets their opponents out of rhythm.”

The Demons operated out of a spread on offense but will sometimes jump into a tight end formation and try to ram the ball down the field.

When the Warriors are on offense they can expect to face a 4-2-5 defensive scheme.

Semifinal games are normally played at a neutral sight but this year due to COVID the OSSAA had difficulty finding suitable neutral sights and the Warriors were the higher seed thus getting the home game.

To qualify for the semifinal game Washington blew past Adair on the road last Friday, 49-22.

Adair scored on their first two possessions and only trailed by six, 28-22 at intermission.

But the Warrior defense stiffened and didn’t allow another Adair point in the final two periods.

Quarterback Emitt Wilk, who is getting better each week, scored on runs of 65 and one yards and tossed a pair of touchdown passes.

He had 126 yards rushing on 12 carries and two touchdowns and was 4-7 passing for 116 yards and two scores.

Wilk found Kobe Scott for a 35 yard scoring strike and hit tight end Kelton Schultz on a 21 yard touchdown pass play.

Chase Allison, who pounded the opposing Warriors on 28 punishing carries for 156 yards and touchdown runs of six and two yards.

Scott slammed the door on the Adair Warriors with a 41-yard pick six in the third quarter that ended any chance of an Adair comeback.

“Outside of the first six minutes we controlled the game,” Beller said. “We gave up some big plays and had some big penalties (in that six minute time frame). They spread you out all over the field and were good enough to make the big plays on their first two drives.”

But Beller said his offensive and defensive lines played lights out.

“That’s how we won the game,” Beller confirmed. “Our offensive line blocked so well our backs were eight, nine or 10 yards down field before they were hit.”

Beller was talking about the dominating performance of Seth Tague, Luke Steele, Austin Smith, Tanner Winlock, Caleb Bruce and Schultz.

Adair is known for their rushing game.

Washington’s Rope Scott, Hayden Milner and Bryan Skelton limited the Warriors to just 39 yards on 29 rushing attempts.

“We were able to stop the run and able to get pressure on their quarterback without having to blitz,” Beller said. 

Another reason the defense was so stingy was the stellar play at cornerback by Scott and Lane Steele.

“They were smothering their receivers allowing us to pay attention to the run game,” Beller reported. “They played fantastic.”