By By KEVIN TRAVIS
Sports Editor
When Trey Harris’ throw missed its mark in the end zone, a handful of Washington’s players slumped to the ground while South Central’s jumped in the air.
Harris had just plunged over from a yard out in overtime to pull the Pam Pack within 14-13. After a timeout, the Pack decided to go for the win at J.G. “Choppy” Wagner Stadium. Harris rolled to his left and lofted the ball into the end zone, but overshot his mark.
South Central’s defense kept Washington from converting the 2-point try, hanging on for a 14-13 win in Friday night’s Coastal Conference clash.
“We were going for the win, and I’d run it again,” Pam Pack coach Sport Sawyer said. “We’ve been working on that play. The timing was just a little bit off.”
Monty Hood’s 3-yard run gave South Central (7-3, 4-2), which had the ball first in overtime, a 13-7 lead. Mike Anderson tacked on the PAT to make it 14-7. That proved to be the difference.
“This feels good,” South Central coach Walt Davis said. “We’ve been through some tough things this year. Jeremy Jones, one of our coaches, lost his son. Two weeks before the season started, we found out coach (Bing Mitchell) wasn’t going to be able to coach (because of an illness). I’ve had a couple battles with heart stuff the last couple of weeks.
“Our kids have just continued to battle and they’ve overcome a lot of odds this year. I couldn’t be any prouder of them.”
Washington (5-5, 3-3) had a chance to avoid overtime at the end of regulation, but Hatteras Brooks came up short on a 32-yard field goal attempt with two seconds to play. A 26-yard run by Harris, who finished with 59 yards rushing and a score on 12 carries, got the Pack deep inside South Central territory. Washington got as close as the Falcon 9-yard line, before Tony Turnage lost six yards on a statue-of-liberty play, making Brooks’ field goal attempt just that much farther.
The kick never had a chance.
Harris hit Byron Hopkins with a 28-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, and Brooks booted the PAT for a 7-0 lead.
A huge interception by Raphael Gibbs at the Washington 1-yard line at the end of the first half preserved Washington’s lead.
South Central used a nine-play, 58-yard drive to start the second half, tying the game on an Ethan Cochran 1-yard plunge and Anderson PAT. Jason Robinson, who ran for 104 yards on 23 carries (73 of those yards coming in the second half), broke off a 20-yard run to set up the score.
It stayed that way until overtime.
Hood, who finished with 42 yards rushing on 10 carries, had a four-yard gain on the first play of OT. After a Washington penalty moved the ball to the Pack 3-yard line, Hood capped the short drive with his touchdown run.
The Pack’s drive in OT didn’t start well, as Harris was sacked for a seven-yard loss. After a delay-of-game call pushed the ball back to the 22, Harris broke off a 21-yard run to the South Central 1. After another Pack penalty, and a short pass play, Harris plunged over from a yard out.
The Pack went for the win, but came up short.
“I’m not surprised they went for the win,” Davis said. “They had just scored, they had all the momentum and they were playing at home. They had to have been feeling good after just scoring, but our defense did a nice job.”
Sawyer said his players should be proud of the way they played.
“We have to keep our heads up,” Sawyer said. “Our guys played hard. They have nothing to be ashamed of. It just didn’t go our way.”
Washington ends the regular season at home against West Carteret in next week’s Senior Night game.
South Central Washington
16 First Downs 10
44-163 Rushes-Yards 33-130
81 Passing Yards 57
18-9-2 Pass-Comp-Int 105-0
4-28.3 Punting 5-39.0
0-0 Fumbles-Lost 1-0
9-67 Penalties 9-54
S. Central 0 0 7 0 7 — 14
Washington 0 7 0 0 6 — 13
Scoring Summary
W – Trey Harris 28 pass to Byron Hopkins (Hatteras Brooks kick), 8:58, 2nd
SC – Ethan Cochran 1 run (Mike Anderson kick), 7:01, 3rd
SC – Monty Hood 3 run (Anderson kick), OT
W – Harris 1 run (pass failed), OT