We have reached number three on our top 10 countdown of the best sports stories from the 2021-22 academic year with this countdown looking at Washington. The third best Demon story takes us to the hardwood when the boys basketball team captured their third straight Southeast Conference crown.
Returning five of their top six from a 15-7 season in 2020-21, there was a lot of buzz for the Demons heading into the 2021-22 winter and the orange and black did not disappoint. The season got started with a bang by taking down defending state champions Pella 82-69 on the road in the first week and Washington never looked back. They picked up quality wins over ranked Ballard, Fort Madison, swept eventual state qualifier Burlington, and took down Clear Creek-Amana. An exciting 62-59 home win over Fort Madison in a battle of ranked opponents on February 4th sealed a share of the SEC and a 59-36 beatdown of Keokuk the next week finished off the outright championship. This was the first three-peat for the program since the 1991-93 seasons and Head Coach Collin Stark said it was thrice as nice. “This was our first goal to accomplish this year and we got bigger ones down the line. Our staff took over six years ago and I think it was great to see so many past players come support tonight. I hope they know what they helped build to get us to this point. I am so proud of everyone involved and they have earned every accomplishment they have. Our seniors have been a part of all three conference titles.”
The Demons finished 9-1 in the league and 19-4 overall before falling to Solon in a class 3A substate semifinal. Five players received all conference recognition including first team guard duo of Ethan Patterson and Kasen Bailey. Patterson finished fourth in class 3A with 69 three pointers made at a 34% clip and his 89% free throw efficiency led the conference. The junior paced the team with 16.1 points a game, hauled in 3.4 rebounds a night, and managed 51 assists. Bailey capped off a four-year varsity run with a third team all state selection to go along with this conference award. The 6’2’’ guard poured in 15.2 points a night, shot an impressive 43% from deep while connecting on 48 of them, dished out a league best 105 assists, and forced 15 blocks. Lucas Kroll, Lance Sobaski, and Travis Leyden also put together all conference campaigns.
Tomorrow we will dive into number two on our list when it takes us to the links.