PINETOPS — Washington’s season came to an end tonight in the first round of the playoffs, as SouthWest Edgecombe proved itself to be too physical for the Pam Pack to handle in a 50-21 Cougar victory.

“We felt like this was going to be a pretty good matchup for us. But the one thing you don’t see on film that we realized tonight is they are an extremely physical football team and they really out-physicaled us,” Washington head coach Jon Blank said. “Hats off to their program.”

For much of the night, Washington’s (4-7, 2-4 2AA Eastern Carolina Conference) defensive players couldn’t bring down S.W. Edgecombe’s (10-2, 5-0 2AA Eastern Plains Conference) running backs on the first, second or even third attempt, leading to many long gains and quick scoring drives. When the Pam Pack managed to put together a scoring drive of its own, the Cougars would respond right back with a long run to wipe out any momentum Washington might’ve built up.

“They ran through a lot of our tackles and they definitely dominated us on the front defensively,” Blank said. “It was very frustrating because I felt like we put together some good drives on offense, ate some clock the way we kind of wanted to. And it felt like in just a couple of plays they were back in the end zone. That obviously breaks a team’s back and they were able to do that on a lot of possession tonight.”

S.W. Edgecombe nearly scored on the second play of the game, when Jareil Jones broke a long run through the Washington defense. But Jahno Bryant caught him at the Pam Pack 13 and stripped the ball away, with Washington winning back possession.

But the excitement on the Pam Pack sideline was short lived, as the Washington offense sputtered through its first several possessions. The Cougars had no such issues, as Darntrell Coucnil proceeded to score on a 60-yard run and added a 4-yard score on S.W. Edgecombe’s next possession.

The Pam Pack offense finally got rolling, thanks to Ka’Ci Foreman, who’s been on fire as of late. He was Washington’s spark for the majority of the game, scoring on a 10-yard run on the last play of the first quarter to make the score 14-7. Foreman also made an impact in the passing game, coming up with a couple of crucial catches on fourth down to keep the chains moving.

Unfortunately for Washington, every time it scored the Cougars had a response and S.W. Edgecombe took a 28-14 lead into halftime after Uriah Lawrence caught a 5-yard TD right before the end of the second quarter.

The Pam Pack looked like it was right back into the game after scoring on the first possession of the second half. Washington used up nearly seven minutes of clock and scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak from Antwone Godley, which was only possible after Foreman made an incredible diving 14-yard catch on fourth and 10.

But with the score now 28-21, the Cougars once again came right back down the field breaking multiple tackles on long runs. Council eventually punched it in from yard out to make the score 34-21.

Making matters worse for Washington, Foreman limped off the field on the ensuing kickoff with an ankle injury and wasn’t able to return to the game.

“That’s the kid you want on the field at all times, if you can have him out there,” Blank said. “We always kind of take a “next man up” philosophy, so we’re prepared when guys go down. However, to lose a kid like him is very tough for any team.”