Defense powering WHS, offense carrying SHS

With the first week of conference play behind all three county teams, the time for experimenting and coaching fundamentals is over.

Players are now cemented into their roles, having had seven games to work out the kinks. Conference is now priority No. 1 and two teams are off to an authoritative start.

No team in the county, possibly the state, was more poised than Washington on Friday, as the Pam Pack derailed Farmville Central’s Cinderella season on an 89-yard touchdown run from senior running back Markel Spencer with 58 seconds left in the game.

“That game could have gone either way,” said Washington head coach Sports Sawyer. “Farmville Central had us all night long and we got a good play there at the end. Both teams are very good and we have some things to work on, but it shows a little character of our guys not quitting way down deep with a minute left. So, I’m proud of them on that part.”

The win places the Pam Pack in the proverbial drivers seat to take the Eastern Plains Conference. The Jaguars, averaging almost 50 points a game prior to the contest, were a true test of character for Washington’s defense — and the front seven, led by E.J. Peartree, Rayekwon Satterwaithe, Lexroy Brown and Jamond Ebron, certainly answered the call.

For a team that lost significant size on the line to graduation, it’s been defensive coordinator Jon Blank’s linebacking corps that has carried the Pam Pack — which is averaging a microscopic four points in its last three games — to its best start in the Sport Sawyer era. Most notably, Washington has 10 players on the roster who have notched over 30 tackles each, including Brown, who leads the team, and Peartree, the sack leader.

Also, an aspect of last season’s defense that has seemed to carry over to 2014 has been the turnovers. The Pam Pack has recorded eight interceptions and forced four fumbles so far this season and has all but eradicated the big, 30-plus-yard plays from their opponents’ repertoire.

Offensively, Spencer and a deep roster of running backs is keeping the team in every game and has remained consistent, regardless of the opponent.

The outlook is favorable for a Washington team that is destined to jump from No. 8 into the top five in the Associated Press Class 2-A prep football poll. While nothing is ever set in stone, a win over Southwest Edgecombe next week will all but solidify the Pam Pack’s chances of locking up its second-consecutive Eastern Plains Conference championship.

And a conference championship is in reach for another Beaufort County squad, Southside, which is fresh off its third-straight blowout victory, the most recent against rival Northside in the Anchor Bowl.

Friday night’s matchup answered one question that surrounded the team a week prior to the game: could sophomore quarterback Marshall Medlock replace junior Johnny Sullivan’s prowess as a game manager?

Medlock not only played a flawless quarterback, avoiding any errant turnovers, but also thrived in forcing the opposing defensive line to commit off sides penalties. He set the framework for head coach Jeff Carrow’s wing-T offense to succeed.

“Every day Marshall is growing and asking all the right questions,” Carrow said. “Hats off to Johnny too. He had surgery and came out to practice the same day. And he was out there coaching it up on the sidelines.”

After finishing last season with a 3-9 record, Southside is off to a 5-2 start and is a much better defensive team this season. Consistency in the front seven is the issue for Southside, thus far, and it will likely determine how far this team can go.

But luckily for the Seahawks, the Coastal Plains Conference is looking more winnable then ever with four of the six teams having less than three wins after seven games.

With a medley of capable running backs — Donshae Miller, Matt Baxter, Donald Moore, Dylan Lewis and Lawrence Brown — Southside will almost certainly get production on offense from one source every week, but it’s the defense, which includes many of the offensive producers, that will be the X-factor through the ensuing three-game stretch against Jones Senior (1-6), East Carteret (2-5) and Lejeune (0-7).

Southside has already proved it is better than what last year’s record conveyed. Three wins in three games, two of which are at home, will set up a virtual conference championship game against Pamlico County (5-2) in Bayboro.

One of those Coastal Plains members that has been struggling of late is Northside. A team that began the season beaming with confidence, looking like a clear-cut favorite to compete for its first conference title since the early 1990s, has experienced a complete 180-degree shift. The Panthers have been outscored 219-80 in its last five games. Granted, two of those contests were against 2-A opponents, but even so, the defensive struggles have persisted against all opponents, regardless of the class.

While this is a team that visibly plays with heart for all four quarters, it’s beginning to look like a case of simply being smaller than those on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Teams like Southside and even Washington have been able to compensate for size on the line with their linebackers, but that hasn’t materialized with the Panthers just yet. And it’s not going to get any easier any time soon.

Northside faces Pamlico County, the current favorites to take the conference, in Bayboro on Friday. A weak front seven is not a trait you want to have against a team averaging 45 points in its last four contests. The Hurricanes were even able to beat a three-win 2-A team, Ayden-Grifton, on the road.

Northside needs to regain that confidence it had against Creswell and North Duplin, while eliminating the turnovers and penalty yardage that has cost them ballgames over the last month.