Photo Courtesy of Washington High School Football Social Media

Former Washington quarterback and defensive back Kael Williams put a bow on his high school career last week, representing the Demons at the Iowa Shrine Bowl in Cedar Falls.

Williams played for the South team in a match-up pitting the top seniors from around the state of Iowa. Played each summer, and first played in 1972, the Iowa Shrine Bowl recognizes senior athletes and coaches across the state. The game is played to raise funds and awareness for Shriners Children’s.

Williams says that he, along with the rest of the players in the game, realized that the Shrine Bowl is ultimately more than just a game, “It became like, more of an eye-opening experience, that these kids go through things at such a young age that none of us had to go through. We’ve had multiple speeches, and something that kept coming up was, those kids don’t get to pick. We get to pick, we get to play football, we get to go to morning lifts, we wake up, like, we choose what we do. But those kids had that put on them from a young age and they had to struggle with that and fight through that without being able to choose that.”

The Iowa Shrine Bowl is a week-long event, during which the teams practice and participate in other events. Williams, who will play running back for Drake beginning this fall, won Defensive Player of the Game for the South squad. Despite Williams’ efforts, the North defeated the South 17-7.