After dropping two straight games the Washington football team is desperately looking to get back on the right track and will attempt to do so tonight as it boards the bus to take on White Oak in a key Week 8 Coastal Conference clash.
The Pam Pack began the season on fire as it jumped out to a 4-1 record after five games. However, after losing the last two contests, now find itself at 4-3 overall and in the midst of a three-way logjam for third place in the conference standings with a 1-2 mark.
Tonight, Washington will take on a winless White Oak (0-7, 0-3) squad that on paper it is favored to beat and Pam Pack coach Sport Sawyer said getting a victory tonight is crucial.
“This is a season game,” Sawyer said. “We can’t go from 4-1 to 4-4. This is a must-win for us.”
The Pam Pack has been brutally bit by the injury bug as senior TE/DE/P Jack Rodman sustained a season-ending knee injury, sophomore RB and leading rusher Markell Spencer has been put on the shelf for the last two weeks due to an ankle injury and backup RB Trey Spruill is out for tonight after sustaining a concussion during last Friday’s 34-7 loss to defending state champs Havelock.
On top of that, three-year starting QB Jimmy Williams has missed roughly have the season due to an early hip injury and was sidelined last week after taking a jarring hit to the shoulder in the third quarter.
Williams is expected to suit up tonight, but there is no doubt injuries have taking a toll on the Pam Pack lineup.
“We’re getting a little thin,” Sawyer said. “We’ve been getting thin at some positions and we’re just trying to keep these guys healthy, but if we have one or two more guys go down we could be in tough shape.”
The loss of Rodman, who hurt his knee after making a reception during a Week 6 loss to West Carteret, is a tremendous blow to the team as he starred at three positions. Rodman tallied 25 tackles as DE, 12 receptions for 155 yards and TD as a TE and routinely booted booming punts for the Pack on special teams.
“Jack’s out for the season and trying to replace him is like trying to replace three players,” Sawyer said. “My heart goes out to him. As a senior he’s going to miss out on the rest of football and his wrestling season. He’s been a true-blood Pam Pack player.”
Washington has scored 21 points in the last two games and has put together some strong drives that lost momentum near the red zone. The Pack will look to jumpstart its offense by trying to get WR/RB Stevie Green more involved in the attack. Green leads the team with 12 TDs, but with injuries to other key offensive players, opposing defense have been paying more attention to the touchdown maker.
“Early in the season he was catching touchdown passes and getting behind the secondary,” Sawyer said. “But, other team’s have been keying on that.”
White Oak heads into tonight’s game on a seven-game losing streak, with its last one being a 63-7 thrashing at the hands of D.H. Conley.
The key for the Pam Pack tonight will be to stay strong on defense and make its drives count on offense.
“Defensively, we’ve done a good job all year but we tend to give up a big play and we can’t do that. We have to make them earn their scores,” Sawyer said. “Offensively, when we get in the red zone we have to score. We can’t leave points on the board.”