By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
Last Friday’s 40-0 win over Northside could not have come at a better time for Washington, as the victory allows the team to head into its bye week with some positive momentum.
Washington (1-2) opened up the season with a tough loss to North Pitt on the road, which was followed by another road loss to Tarboro.
Some home cooking did the Pam Pack good last Friday as Washington was able to roll over the Panthers in its home opener.
“The first couple of games I thought our guys played hard but just made some mistakes, it wasn’t because they weren’t playing hard,” Sawyer said. “So getting a win gives us a little more confidence and pushes us in the right direction.”
Running backs Marquin Hill and William Ellegor paced the attack with two touchdowns each, as their effort was backed by a stingy defense.
Sawyer said what stood out to him was his team’s intensity.
“I think our guys were fired it, we got after it from the get-go,” Sawyer said. “I thought Northside gave us a tough match. It was only 21-0 at the half, that’s still a game. That’s not a blowout or anything like that, but our guys came out and fought hard in the second half.”
This season the Pam Pack has switched from a shotgun, spread-heavy team to an I-formation team that features both Hill and Ellegor. Against the Panthers, both runners were extremely effective.
“Right now we are looking to just go straight ahead at you,” Sawyer said. “Our guys are hitting the holes pretty good and picking up three or four yards a pop, moving the chains and taking time off the clock. So far it has been working pretty good for us.”
The Pam Pack will come off the bye week and host Goldsboro (0-2, 1-A Carolina Conference) the following Friday. However, Sawyer isn’t getting ahead of himself and said this week’s practices were more about self improvement.
“We don’t have tape on Goldsboro yet, so what we are looking at is getting healthy,” Sawyer said. “We want to just kind of come out and take a breathe because we have already been out here since Aug. 1. So we try to just catch our breathe, get our guys relaxed and ready for the long haul. This week our focus is on fundamentals and special teams because I think our special teams have given up too many yards our first three games.”
Goldsboro lost its last game to Eastern Wayne 23-20 in its home opener, and will play on the road against C.B. Aycock tonight.