The Washington Rams entered Friday’s Black Canyon Region contest against the Dysart Demons looking for their second win of the season, and their first back-to-back wins since 2014.

Washington (1-7,1-2) was unable to do so, as they lost to Dysart (2-6, 2-2) 40-30.

After their 39-point win over Coronado last week, the Rams were forced into a much closer game.

Washington’s defense was stout early on and provided the offense with opportunities to score.

After a high snap in the first quarter, Dysart had the ball at the Washington 1-yard line. The Rams forced a fumble that turned into three points.

Again, with Dysart driving, the Washington defense once again stepped up and forced a turnover on downs. The ensuing drive resulted in a 65-yard touchdown pass from Phil Pardia to Dasani Walker.

The second half did not go the way Washington wanted it to.

Trailing 17-7 entering the third quarter, Dysart started its comeback. After surrendering a Washington touchdown to begin the half, the Demons scored one of their own on a 5-yard run by quarterback Kobe Ganados.

“I told them we were a better team than the way we were playing, made some dumb mistakes and we had to kick it into gear,” Dysart coach John Ganados said about the second half adjustments.

On the Demons’ ensuing drive, running back Jordan Lopez took a handoff at the 35 and was stopped by the Washington line. The play was not blown dead, allowing Lopez to lateral the ball back to Ganados, who heaved the ball to Marcus Banda for the touchdown.

“All season we’ve been a second half team, so I knew our defense was gonna get some stops and we were going to do something the last two quarters,” Ganados said.

After the Rams again pulled within three, Ganados took his team down the field and rushed for yet another touchdown.

“I came out in the second half, knew my line would block for me and I ran behind them,” he said.

Despite the loss, Washington coach Tim Mayfield still saw encouraging signs from his team.

“We played tough, Dysart is a good team. We knew it was going to be tough. We played hard the whole game, and we didn’t give up.”