Washington’s shocking first-round exit from the playoffs in mid-November isn’t necessarily the end of the road for its 13 seniors. Those players have excelled in their years on the field at Choppy Wagner Stadium. Now their focus shifts to demonstrating their talents at the collegiate level.

Of course, getting knocked off early in the playoffs meant one less chance to play on a bigger stage. However, those same players had the opportunity to shine as juniors in last year’s 2-A state championship game.

A dozen different schools stopped by Washington this year to scout players. They include East Carolina, Duke, Western Carolina, Lenoir-Rhyne, Chowan, NC Wesleyan, Guilford, Campbell, Methodist, Louisburg, Carnegie Mellon and Furman. Whether it’s by way of scholarships or a walk-on program, there are some opportunities for soon-to-be Pam Pack gridiron graduates to play at the next level.

“Any of our kids that want to go to college, I try to promote them now,” said Washington coach Sport Sawyer. “There’s some colleges out there, some (Division III), there’s so many that they may have an opportunity. There’s preferred walk-ons at ECU or just walking on anywhere. If they want to play football, I try to help them out and do that.”

The players have their own responsibilities when it comes to building recruiting stock. Hudl.com allows athletes to make a profile and upload their highlights. Sawyer leaves it to his players to stay on top of their profiles. He later contacts college coaches and points them in the direction of those profiles.

When those recruiters do stop by to get a look at the players, they already have something in mind. Sawyer said he recently had a coach come by and say he was exclusively looking for receivers. Washington’s run-heavy wing-T offense doesn’t show off the passing game much, but that doesn’t necessarily mean those players can’t end up switching positions. Jimmy Williams played quarterback during his time in a Pam Pack uniform. Now he’s a receiver for the Pirates.

“The offense we’ve run recently has been wing-T, but if they see a player that fits a mold, they may convert him to a linebacker or a (defensive back),” Sawyer said. “The colleges are looking at frames is what I’m finding out.”

That has its pros and cons. Of course, being able to get recruited for different positions increases some options. At the same time, though, Sawyer feels like some of his talented players are getting overlooked simply because they don’t pass an eye test.

Washington had seven players earn all-Eastern Plains Conference honors. Linebacker Lexroy Brown was named defensive Player-of-the-Year. He had 144 tackles, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

“Lexroy has been a strong linebacker for us for a few years now. He’s just a presence on the field,” said Washington defensive coach and athletic director Jon Blank. “I think other teams always wanted to know where No. 24 was. I was able to use that to our advantage to create things that would allow him to make plays.”

Clinton Pope, Jarquez Keyes, Brandon Jackson, Neill Jennings and Conner Sawyer all earned first-team honors. Nazzir Hardy was named to the second team.

Each of them — along with seniors Qumen Boston, Hasaan Credle, Matt Swales, Joe Randolph, Josh Padgett and Josh Smith — has something to offer. One of the biggest challenges now is getting them noticed.

Recruiting doesn’t start on the field. It starts in the classroom. Any player that has aspirations to play at a higher level needs to put the same effort into their academics as they put into their game.

“It starts really from the time they get into school,” Sawyer said. “Grades. The days of getting into school and playing because of athletic talent are not really there. Grades. For freshmen, their first semester or two in high school are so important.

“If you work hard, you never know what will happen.”