The Pam Pack pulled out all its guns on Saturday and in the end it was able to shoot its way past Randleman 5-3 to advance to the third round of the playoffs for only the third time in school history.
No. 2-seeded Washington (18-1-2) racked up five goals from five different players as it shot down No. 15 Randleman (9-11-2) in the second round of the NCHSAA 2-A playoffs.
Playing on a soggy J.G. “Choppy” Wagner turf, the Pam Pack got goals from Luis Tellez, Christian Crompton, Edward Barrera, Alex Donadio and Holt McKeithan and will move on to the third round of the playoffs where it will face No. 7 Carrboro (15-5-2), who topped Graham 1-0 on Saturday.
“The guys are really jacked up,” Washington coach Jimmy Kozuch said. “Every time we play right now it could be the last time we’re playing, so we’re trying to leave everything on the field.
“… I think our offense was really on today. We had a ton of shots. We were pressing. They’re goalie had a great game but we just kept going. That was the big thing, we got our offense back on track today.”
Randleman put the pressure on the Pam Pack early as it took a 1-0 lead 15 minutes into the first half.
Washington would pull even shortly after as Luis Tellez took a pass from Jorge Rodriguez and buried it in the back of the goal.
The Pack took its first lead of the night when Crompton scored, but Randleman was able to match the pace and tied it at 2-2.
“They came out firing on all cylinders against us,” Kozuch said. “So we had to try and pick it up to their level.”
With momentum up for grabs Washington took it. Barrera scored a critical goal before the end of the first half to take a 3-2 lead at the break and Donadio drilled a back-breaker early in the second to push the lead to 4-2.
“(Barrera) scored an incredible goal. He took on a couple of guys and he took a shot from about 30 yards out and the goalie didn’t even get a hand on it. It was a great rip,” Kozuch said.
The up-tempo style of play is not what Washington has been accustomed to this season, but some key adjustments slowed the pace and allowed the Pack to pad its lead.
“We were trying to go too hard and too fast, so we slowed the game down,” Kozuch said. “They were running an off-sides trap on us, so I talked the guys about getting the ball across. It’s an easy way to burn the off-sides trap. I knew our forwards were faster than their defenders.
“Christian Crompton played a ball across from the left side of the field and Alex is lightening fast and he just came up on it and took the goalie one-on-one.”