How his father fueled Derby quarterback Lem Wash to lead Panthers back to title game
Lem Wash was in the third grade when the film studies dissecting his play as a quarterback began with his father.
Marcel Wash grew up playing the game in football-crazed Sherman, Texas and his passion for the sport was passed down to his son, who was a natural student of the game. Before the film studies began, the father made sure his son knew he loved him because when he pushed play, the tape doesn’t lie and neither does Marcel.
“If he played good, I told him that and if he played not so good, I told him that too. I never lied to him,” Marcel Wash said. “I always told him if he could take it from his dad, then he could take it from anybody.”
In those film sessions, Derby’s future star quarterback was born. Lem Wash — now a 6-foot, 205-pound senior signal-caller for the Panthers — will look to deliver the third straight Class 6A state championship for Derby (8-2) when it plays in its sixth straight title game, against Blue Valley North (7-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Olathe College Boulevard Activity Center.
Wash has thrown for 1,074 yards, rushed for 1,182 yards and accounted for 31 total touchdowns in his senior season.
“I definitely could not have done it without my dad,” Lem Wash said. “He’s been my rock ever since I started playing football. He’s always been my coach and my dad. Me having both all in one has been amazing.”
The support from his father and his dedication to the details were the things that Lem Wash fell back on to lead his football team through a regular season — two losses for the first time since 2011 and a two-week quarantine — that saw Derby face more adversity than any other season in coach Brandon Clark’s tenure.
Clark said he saw Wash’s true character come through after a season-opening 45-14 loss at Mill Valley that had people wondering if Derby’s streak of dominance might be on pause for one season.
“I remember after the first loss, I could tell it really hit him hard,” Clark said. “Lem hates to lose, just like his head coach. I could tell he was deeply hurt, but at the same time he knew it was time to go to work. He was the first one there for Monday’s practice and he was the one leading the team. He was outworking everyone. That’s a true sign of a leader.”
Adversity struck again later in the season when Derby fell behind 36-35 late in the fourth quarter on the road against Maize. Wash guided Derby down the field to a threatening position, but on a third down Wash was pressured in the pocket and tried to force a throw into a tight window that was intercepted to seal Derby’s fate.
Wash was up until 3 a.m. Saturday watching film with his father trying to learn from his mistakes. When he went to bed that night, Wash was determined that would be his last loss in high school.
“I don’t think we were ever rattled,” Wash said. “That was just a bump in the road for us. We knew we could be better and we knew we were going to do better. It was just a matter of time.”
Clark said the last five weeks — the Panthers have averaged 52 points — since the Maize loss has been a master class by Wash on how to run Derby’s offense at the high-tempo pace Clark desires.
Derby has beaten three of the top-ranked teams in Class 6A the last three weeks, including No. 1-ranked and previously unbeaten Lawrence, by a combined 150-75 to reach the title game. Derby has won each game by at least 20 points with Wash accounting for 744 total yards and 11 touchdowns.
“Lem is a student of the game and he understands the equation of learning the playbook in order to play fast,” Clark said. “He’s always watching film. He’s always locked in during our meetings. He understands every position on the field, so he always knows where the hole is going to bounce and what coverage he’s going to see. Being a student of the game allows him come Fridays to play fast and make the correct reads and put the ball where it needs to go and where he needs to run.”
Back in those early film sessions, Marcel Wash almost always pointed out to his son a way in which he could have scored a touchdown on every play. Maybe Lem should have thrown a stiff arm or spun in the different direction or maybe he should have decided to tuck and run rather than try to throw.
Striving for perfection at such an early age made an impression on Lem and it’s a quality that’s allowed him to have so much success as Derby’s starting quarterback the last two seasons.
It also helps that he’s surrounded by talent. Sophomore running back Dylan Edwards has run for 1,663 yards and 25 touchdowns behind a dominant offensive line anchored by underclassmen in juniors Alex Key, Jonas Vickers and Dylan Conn and sophomore Mitchell Johnson.
“Now it’s almost like the game is in slow motion for me,” Lem Wash said. “With how much I’m in the film room with coach Clark and then breaking down film with my dad and my teammates and our scout team giving me great looks in practice, I feel like by the time I get to game time it’s all second nature to me.”
All of the time spent studying film, all of the time pushing the sled in the summer, all of the time completing tire workouts are all reasons why Wash, a Tennessee Tech commit, has Derby one win away from its sixth championship in the last nine seasons.
But the biggest reason? The support from his father.
“I’m very proud of my son for the way he’s handled himself this season, especially after the two losses,” Marcel Wash said. “The way he’s come back mentally and prepared, I”m just very proud of how he’s leading his team and how he’s grown up to be a man that I’m proud to call my son.”
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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