Washington exits in first round

Published 12:05 am Saturday, November 14, 2015

HEARTBREAKING FINISH: The Pam Pack huddles up during their regular-season finale. Washington’s season came to an end with Friday night’s loss to Northside-Jacksonville.

HEARTBREAKING FINISH: The Pam Pack huddles up during their regular-season finale. Washington’s season came to an end with Friday night’s loss to Northside-Jacksonville.

By ALEC MEINTZER

Washington Daily News

The Monarchs of Northside-Jacksonville defeated the Pam Pack of Washington by a score of 34-0, stopping Washington’s season at a 7-5 record. What started off as a close football game gradually turned into an unfortunate routing for the Pam Pack.

From the kickoff, Washington and Northside used a bruising running attack to start the game. No passes were thrown until there was 5:09 left in the first quarter. Washington started with a heavy dose of Clinton Pope and Jarquez Keyes.

Unfortunately, the first drive ended with a turnover on downs for the Pam Pack. Another drive in the first quarter ended with a fumble. However, these turnovers did not amount to anything on the scoreboard for Northside thanks to a turnover on downs.

The first and only score of the first half came on a 66-yard drive that ended with a rushing touchdown by Dwayne Washington, giving Northside a 7-0 lead.

Despite only being down by seven at halftime, coach Sport Sawyer said the team “got down a little bit.” He tried to tell them, “it’s alright, its only 7-0.”

Sawyer called the first half “good football. We moved the ball a little and they moved the ball a little.”

But as the second half commenced for the Pam Pack, the game took a turn for the worst. Northside’s Jireh Wilson took the second-half kickoff back 70 yards for the touchdown. But the Pam Pack weren’t down just yet. They came out in the shotgun offense in the second half. Thaty got them a pickup of eight, a big gain by Clinton Pope and another first down after that. This drive was ultimately stopped at the Northside 29-yard line with an incomplete pass from Tripp Barfield.

Dwayne Washington would score on an eight-yard run on the subsequent drive. Making it 21-0 Northside.

A few drives later, southpaw quarterback Jake Erickson completed a six-yard diving touchdown pass to Jireh Wilson to give Northside a 28-0 lead.

On the next Washington drive, Northside recovered a sack fumble on the 20-yard line and took over on offense. This possession turned into another touchdown pass from Jake Erickson to Jireh Wilson giving Wilson his third overall touchdown of the game.

Northside missed the extra point making the score 34-0 with 6:57 left in the fourth quarter.

Washington wraps up its season with a first-round exit after a visit to the title game last year. It’s an admirable finish considering the Pam Pack graduated 26 players from last year’s squad, but Sawyer had higher hopes for this team.

“I really thought we had a good team,” Sawyer said. “We didn’t play like we played all year.”

Northside went 11 of 16 passing for 126 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Monarchs also picked up 176 yards on 39 rush attempts. That yielded another two touchdowns.

Washington pounded for 144 yards on the ground. The rush-first offense also took to the air, completing three of six pass attempts for 37 yards.

The Monarchs move on to face No. 1 T.W. Andrews.

The Red Raiders moved on by way of a 34-21 win over Randleman in their