Washington scored early and often last Friday night in a 55-7 shake-down of the visiting Purcell Dragons.

After the Warriors drew first blood on a 34-yard pass off the arm of junior quarterback Creed Barrett to senior receiver Case Alexander, Purcell answered with a Cooper Selman 26-yard run to knot the score at 7-all.

After that, it was all Warriors.

Barrett hooked up with Alexander two more times, the first a 54 yard scoring strike in the first quarter and again for 43 yards and a score in the second period.

Jaxon McKinney scored on runs of 17 and five yards while junior Josiah Dickerson rushed for 137 yards on eight carries. He had touchdown runs of 45 and 53 yards each in the second quarter.

Freshman Sam Salcedo closed out the scoring with a 12 yard scamper in the third stanza.

Barrett completed 12 of his 18 passes for 274 yards including the trio of touchdowns to Alexander, who finished the night with five receptions for 160 yards.

“The offensive line deserved a lot of credit,” Washington Head Coach Brad Beller said. “They made it happen. I thought our pass protection was really good. We started out a little slow running the ball but once Josiah got started, he ran well.”

Beller cited the offensive line play of the seven linemen that rotated in against the Dragons including Trip Wilson, Evan Painter, Joseph Oakley, Sean Boyd, Kai Palacol, Jackson Glover and Adam Sharp.

“Our defense, outside of the first drive did a great  job of getting off the field,” Beller said. “They were getting in some third and short third down situation and with the flex-bone that’s what you want.”

Beller noted the stellar defensive play of sophomore Charlie Mann at safety. Fellow seniors Alexander and Hunter Sanders also had big games defensively for the Warriors.

Alexander led the team with 15 tackles with Mann right on his heels with 13 stops.

Jaxon McKinney and Jaaron Gordon both finished with 11 tackles while Sanders had eight.

“Charlie Mann played well from his safety position against the run,” the coach continued. “Case Alexander had a big game and Hunter Sanders played his bests game of the year so far.”

Beller also praised the play of linebackers Josiah Dickerson, Jeff Stinnett, Sam Salcedo and Hunter Lilly.

“Defensive end Dom Palumbo had a great game and our other safety Jaxon McKinney was heavily involved in stopping the run. He made a lot of big tackles.

Washington will have Friday night off due to their bye week, which will give nicked up players time to heal.

“We should have all our injured players back by the next game, but one,” Beller said. “We will be as healthy for week four as we have been all year,” he concluded.

Warrior notes:

Head coach Brad Beller nominated Creed Barrett as the Offensive Player of the Week. He completed 12 of 18 pass attempts for 274 yards and three touchdowns and three times for 32 yards.

Beller nominated Trip Wilson as the Offensive Lineman of the Week. He graded out at 83 percent against Purcell.

Getting the nod as the Defensive Player of the Week was Charlie Mann, who made 13 tackles last Friday night.

Hunter Sanders was nominated as the Defensive Lineman of the Week for his eight tackles against the Dragons.