Who knows how far back Washington football fans have to go to find an offensive performance like the 67-point effort from Friday at South Lenoir?

Head coach Jon Blank doesn’t, and he’s been with the program for 15 years. Leafing through the past decade on Maxpreps doesn’t turn up a game in which a Pam Pack offense was as successful.

Washington, now on its bye week after nine-straight weeks of football, seems to have finally hit a stride. It can’t be expected for a new coaching staff to settle in right away. This is about the point in the season when the offense — led by new coordinator Perry Owens — should be firing on all cylinders.

And boy is it doing just that. In its last three games, the Pam Pack scored 45 points in a win over North Lenoir and had the aforementioned domination at South Lenoir. The loss sandwiched between those victories saw Ayden-Grifton score a last-minute touchdown to pull ahead for a 39-34 win.

Those same Chargers most recently stopped undefeated Kinston to move into first place in the 2-A Eastern Carolina Conference, by the way.

There’s something impressive in the works for Washington football. In the past, its offense found an identity in the wing-T. That’s the system that Sport Sawyer mastered as he led the Pam Pack to the state-championship game just three years ago.

Now that identity lays in the triple option that Washington switched to a few weeks back. It begins with an offensive line that was arguably the team’s top unit starting in Week 1. Add in senior quarterback Frederick Holscher and his growing understanding of the offense with each passing week. All these factors make Hykeem Ruffin, the top weapon of this offense, more able to get downhill.

And that’s not all. This offense is evolving. New wrinkles get added each week. Yes, Ruffin had five rushing touchdowns last week, but there was also a 50-yard scoring connection between Holscher and senior receiver Dawson Elks.

Washington has this week off to focus on itself and fine-tune the intricacies of its offense. Then it has all of next week to dial in on what mode of attack will be most effective against Kinston.

Of course, offense is only half of the game. Washington’s defense has been streaky at best this season, especially when it comes to slowing the run. It allowed two South Lenoir running backs to run for over 150 yards apiece en route to the Blue Devils’ second-best offensive showing thus far.

That will need to be the next area to come together. That will continue to improve throughout the remainder of the season and as long as Blank and his defensive mind are in charge.

The Pam Pack matched its win total from last week. Believe that the players and coaches are all intent on illustrating the strides they’ve made with a push down the stretch.