By By KEVIN TRAVIS, Sports Editor
Tony Turnage stood on the field all alone at J.G. “Choppy” Wagner Stadium, minutes after the game had ended. There were some tears in his eyes, but they were happy tears.
Turnage and his Washington Pam Pack took a 17-14 win over the West Carteret Patriots in a Friday night thriller.
“I’m just taking it all in,” Turnage said after the Coastal Conference regular season finale. “It’s my last game here and I just want to enjoy it.
“I’m glad, with this being my last game here, that we won. We completed the regular season with a winning record and that feels good.”
Hatteras Brooks made sure Turnage and the rest of the seniors had a Senior Night to remember. The junior booted a 27-yard field goal with three seconds to play, lifting the Pam Pack (6-5, 4-3) past the Patriots (5-6, 1-6).
“Since I missed last week, I knew I couldn’t do it again,” Brooks said referring to a missed field goal against South Central. “I wanted redemption. I just kicked it.”
Brooks watched the ball sail through the uprights, then jumped up and down in celebration.
“It was amazing,” Brooks said. “It was a great feeling.”
The Pack overcame three turnovers, the loss of another running back and a 14-7 fourth-quarter deficit to pull out the victory.
“These seniors have fought through so much adversity,” Washington coach Sport Sawyer said. “Those guys deserve a lot of credit. They don’t hang their heads and they play hard.
“Cole Hartley (16 tackles), Tony Turnage and Ronnie Woolard have been big seniors for this group. I respect them a lot for that.”
Sophomore Keane Graham provided the jolt the Washington offense needed in the second half.
After the Pack mustered just 39 yards total offense in the first two quarters, the diminutive, speedy tailback ran for 74 yards on 11 carries in the second half. His runs of 7, 5 and 13 yards in the final two minutes helped set up Brooks’ winning field goal.
“He ran very hard on the (junior varsity) team and he’s been working hard,” Sawyer said of Graham. “With William (Ellegor) going down, Lindsey (Harris) not being at full speed and Darnell (Windley) going down, I said, ‘hey, let’s go, buddy.’ And he picked it up and went. That showed a lot of courage on his part.”
The Pack defense deserves a lot of credit as well. The team gave up 150 yards of offense in the first half, though 83 of those yards came on a long touchdown run by John John Papillion. Washington held the Patriots to one first down and a meager 23 yards of offense in the second half.
“We just had to man up,” said an emotional senior linebacker Ronnie Woolard, who finished with 15 tackles. “We just had to play hard. This feels great.”
Neither team did much in the opening minutes, as the Pack and Patriots traded turnovers.
Josh Brown got the Pack on the scoreboard in the second quarter. The senior broke through the line and blocked the punt of Jackson Riley. The ball bounded into the end zone and Brown scooped it up on a hop, giving the Pack a 6-0 lead. Brooks tacked on the first of his two PATs for the 7-0 advantage.
Just 50 seconds later, Papillion, who ran for 98 yards on 10 carries, broke free for an 83-yard TD scamper. Dalton Knight’s PAT tied things up with 6:35 to play in the first half.
After Washington fumbled the ball away at its own 2-yard line, the Pack’s third giveaway of the night, Reuben Simmons plunged over from a yard out for a 14-7 lead in the third.
It stayed that way until midway through the fourth quarter. Turnage (3 of 6 for 77 yards) lofted a perfect 56-yard scoring strike to junior receiver Johnny Broadway. Brooks tied it up with the PAT with 5:16 to play.
West Carteret gambled in its own territory on 4th-and-inches at the 45-yard line. Simmons was stuffed for a yard loss by the front line of Marquin Hill and Amiar Johnson, and the Pack took over at the 44 with 3:11 to play.
A couple nifty runs by Turnage and Graham got the ball to the Patriot 23. Turnage came up with his second big completion of the night on a 4th-and-8 from the 28, hitting Woolard (2 catches, 21 yards) for a 10-yard gain. A 13-yard gallop by Graham moved the ball to the Patriot 5, before a loss set the Pack back to the 10 with eight seconds to play.
On came Brooks, who calmly blasted the ball through the uprights for the game winner.
Turnage, who injured fingers on his throwing hand earlier in the game, finished with 45 yards rushing on 21 carries. Harris, playing on an injured leg, toted the ball 12 times for 39 yards.
Washington will find out its playoff fate when the pairings are released today.
W. Carteret Washington
7 First Downs 14
37-158 Rushes-Yards 46-164
15 Passing Yards 77
5-2-0 Pass-Comp-Int 7-3-0
5-28.4 Punting 2-34.0
3-2 Fumbles-Lost 5-3
5-35 Penalties 2-10
W. Carteret 0 7 7 0 — 14
Washington 0 7 0 10 — 17
Scoring Summary
W – Josh Brown blocked punt return (Hatteras Brooks kick), 7:25, 2nd
WC – John John Papillion 83 run (Dalton Knight kick), 6:35, 2nd
WC – Reuben Simmons 1 run (Knight kick), 5:20, 3rd
W – Johnny Broadway 56 pass from Tony Turnage (Brooks kick), 5:16, 4th
W – Brooks 27 field goal, 0:03, 4th