WASHINGTON —

Washington found itself in the win column last Saturday following an 0-3 start with a 13-7 overtime victory against county rival North Daviess.

But after dropping their first three games, Washington discovered it was actually sitting at 2-2 with a forfeit win against Evansville Bosse.

North Daviess has been close the past two weeks, but has fallen to 1-3 with Saturday’s loss. The Cougars travel to Dugger to face a team that is 2-2.

Washington

The forfeit with Bosse didn’t help the Hatchets in the Big Eight Standings, but a win at Mount Vernon certainly would.

Both teams enter with 0-2 conference records, Mount Vernon is 1-3 on the season, and both could find themselves closer to being back in a race presently dominated by Jasper and Mount Carmel, Ill., each at 2-0.

“I feel this game is very important to us,” Washington coach Kelly Brashear said. “We feel like we have some momentum, and we’re wanting to build on that. If we can get a win, I feel that we would be back in the thick of things with four or five other conference teams.”

Kyle Pfender was certainly in the thick of Saturday’s things with 133 yards on 25 carries. That brought Pfender up to 194 yards on 32 attempts.

“Kyle played a good game for his first at tailback,” Brashear said. “I liked his vision of the field and he was good at hitting the holes really hard.”

Tyler Edmiston added to his team-high 347 yards with 74 against the Cougars.

“I think our backs can thank the offensive line for those holes,” Brashear said. “They (the linemen) did a good job of making them.”

Mount Vernon lost at Vincennes Lincoln, 28-7, Saturday, in another game pushed back from Friday due to weather.

Freshman Kaleb Graber threw a nine-yard pass for Mount Vernon’s lone score. Brashear believes 6-1, 145-pound senior Will Russell could get the call in this one.

“Mount Vernon is a young team that is still searching for its identity,” Brashear said.

“I think they have something like 19 juniors and seniors on their roster, and the rest of the kids are freshmen and sophomores. They graduated a lot of players last year. They still like to spread the field with three receivers on one side, but it looks like they are trying to run out of that formation more this year.”

Senior Craig Dick (5-11, 190) led the Wildcats with 69 rushing yards at Vincennes.

As for the Hatchets, they will try to control the game, eating clock and keeping Mount Vernon’s offense on the bench.

“We have shown that when we play well offensively, we can control a game,” Brashear said. “I was happy with the way the kids responded to adversity last week. If we can get a win, I think that will put us right back with everybody else in the conference.”

North Daviess

The Cougars did a lot of things right before falling to Washington last weekend. North Daviess is winless in the Southwest Seven at 0-2. Dugger is 0-1, and the Cougars would like to get in the win column.

“I think we’ve improved as a team in the past two weeks,” Helms said. “We just need to get tougher and better.”

The Cougars missed some first-half scoring chances against the Hatchets. North Daviess controlled the ball for most of the opening quarter Friday before coming away empty.

North Daviess then got the game’s first score against Washington, before the Hatchets rallied for a 7-7 tie at the end of regulation.

“We were able to take a lead and then stop them (Washington),” Helms said. “We got the ball back, but then went three and out. Washington has a lot of strength up front, and we were playing people both ways.”

Dugger enters with 12 seniors and three juniors on a 22-man roster.

“They are senior dominated,” Helms said. “Sterling Langley (5-10, 175) is really one of the better quarterbacks we’ll face this season. (Darrell) Faulkner (5-10, 155) and (Mike) Foglesong (5-8, 190) are really good running backs to compliment their offense.”

The Cougars have some running backs of their own.

Colton Lengacher (6-2, 218) has rushed for 564 yards in 57 carries to date. Helms would like to see his junior spend less time on both sides.

“Colton is an outstanding running back,” Helms said. “We would like for him to have fewer opportunities playing both ways. We’ll probably need a few more carries from (Doug) Bays (6-0, 175, 39 yards) and (Logan) Turpin (5-11, 150, 297 yards). We would also like to see Jordan Allen (6-0, 160) a bit more at an inside linebacker.”

Helms admitted his youthful squad was still in a learning mode after four weeks, but noted that, “with each game we’re getting a week older.”

While Helms would like to have seen his team with another win or two, he believes his Cougars are on the verge after defeating Tecumseh, 34-28, in the opening week.

“I think things are going to happen with this group,” Helms said.