Three-sport athlete makes most of his time quarterbacking the surging Washington

EAST PEORIA — Jake Stewart is quarterback present, Preston Nelson is quarterback future and both teamed up on the field Friday to help Washington have an easy time of it in a Mid-Illini Conference game.

The Panthers hammered East Peoria, 51-7, at Corwin "Cornie" Clatt Field inside EastSide Centre, to pull themselves up to 3-3 overall and 3-1 in conference play.

"Preston came in and helped us have a great night," Stewart said. "We both know our roles. I look at me as the quarterback of the present, and Preston is the future. I'm trying to help us win, and help him prepare and get comfortable with this offense for beyond this season, too."

High school football Week 6:Scores around the Peoria area

Washington's offense behind its two quarterbacks piled up 483 yards, much of it thanks to running back Kainon McQueary's 276 yards and four touchdowns on 11 carries. He had scoring runs of 60, 35, 4 and 73.

East Peoria slipped to 2-4 overall and 1-3 in conference as its offense managed 68 yards. Its lone points came on a 78-yard pick-6 by Gabriel Zeigler-Harris off junior Nelson early in the second quarter.

"Kainon has a heckuva skill set, great vision," Stewart said. "It makes the game a lot easier for the quarterback. We have a lot of guys do a lot of different things, and it makes the game fun for us."

This is it for Stewart, who started at quarterback for Washington on Friday. The senior three-sport athlete has a few weeks left at the Panthers' helm. Then prep football will be behind him and basketball and baseball ahead, where the guard and shortstop-DH will play key roles.

"I'm going to play a sport in college, I just don't know which one," Stewart said. "I tend to most love the sport for whatever season I'm in."

The 5-foot-10, 160-pound senior Stewart has played football, baseball and basketball since childhood. He was a key part of Washington's run to the IHSA state baseball finals last spring.

And he's had to wait his turn to quarterback the Panthers.

"You never want to sit," Stewart said. "I was the backup last season. But looking back at that, I went up against our defense in practice every day last season. That helped me, made me better. It helped me be ready to start this season."

Stewart had five carries for 29 yards, and passed 2-of-3 for 36 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in the end zone.

Nelson played primarily in the second half, and had four carries for 7 yards and a touchdown on a keeper. He passed 2-of-4 for 62 yards and a touchdown, and gave up that pick-6. He also caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Stewart for a 14-0 lead with 11:34 left in the second quarter.

Panthers in command

Washington answered East Peoria's pick-6 with a 35-yard TD run from McQueary for 21-7 with 7:48 left in the second quarter.

The Panthers picked up a safety 67 seconds later when East Peoria quarterback Andrew Kaufmann was penalized for grounding while in the end zone trying to escape the pass rush.

Washington took the followup possession to a 30-7 lead on another McQueary TD run, and then Nelson scored from the 2 on a keeper and it was 37-7 heading to halftime.

More:The Peoria area's top performances from Week 6 of the high school football season

Panthers running back Jacob Walker had 12 carries for 76 yards in the second half.

East Peoria running back Gabriel Zeigler-Harris carried 18 times for 2 yards. Eight of his carries were losses, and none gained more than five yards.

Quarterback Andrew Kaufmann ran seven times for -8 yards and was 5 of 10 passing for 41 yards.

Josh Knight had 33 yards on six carries.

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.