GREENVILLE — In the midst of last Friday’s prep football convolution, there was one game that stood above the rest, a heavyweight matchup that featured two teams trending in opposite directions.

Fresh off two disappointing performances to start the season, change was needed for Washington, both head coach Sport Sawyer and defensive coordinator Jon Blank made that painfully clear following the 26-7 loss to Tarboro on Aug. 28. On paper, against a D.H. Conley team that entered averaging 56 points per game, the chance of a reeling Washington defense escaping Greenville with a Week-3 win was slim.

But at the end of the first half, much to Conley fan’s chagrin, a very different Pam Pack held a 21-0 advantage over the Rams, a score attributed to various personnel changes on both sides of the ball.

“We’re trying to get the best players on the field in all positions,” Blank said. “Some of the guys we thought were the best in certain positions didn’t work out through the first couple games, so we really had to reevaluate the personnel.”

Defensively, from the line to the free safety, the rotation was shuffled. Sophomore Nazir Hardy’s transition from safety to corner gave freshman Quashawn Gaynor support in the secondary, limiting big plays from the Vikings in the first half.  Linebackers Brandon Jackson and Lexroy Brown, who have had a tough start to the season, were applied to the defensive line, where their size provided much-needed boost. Blank injected the center of the field with speed, inserting Raekwon Ross, Austin O’Neal and Mark Halbert II at linebacker, three juniors who combined for 22 total tackles on Friday.

“We needed a little more strength up front,” Blank said. “Part of the reason Lexroy and Brandon weren’t making plays was because the defensive line was getting driven back to them. We had to eliminate that and we also made some changes in the secondary. We have an athlete in at corner on one side and that worked really well for us.”

In all, the moves clearly paid dividends through the first 24 minutes, resulting in the surprising half time score, but through the final quarters, the Pam Pack gave in to youth and inexperience — various miscues that stunted momentum and allowed the Conley offense to find its rhythm.

Despite being down in the final minutes, Washington leaned on its one constant, senior running back Clinton Pope, who recorded a career-high 297 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries — the highest single-game yardage total in the Sport-Sawyer era. It was his performance on the final 15-play drive (and an extra point from Ben McKeithan) that lifted the Pam Pack to a 35-34 victory.

Spending most of the game on the D-line, a new position, Brown finished with a game-high 17 total tackles, while Jackson notched seven. Brown also recorded three receptions for 37 yards and a touchdown on offense. Disregarding convention, the coaching staff’s philosophy for Week 3 was based on placing top skill players like Brown in skill positions.

“The first two weeks (Brown) has gotten off to a very slow start,” Blank said of his senior linebacker. “Some of it is conditioning, some of it was mental, some of it was the mistakes the younger players were making. He was letting all those things affect him. This week, he played with a little more passion, a little more desire, and he saw the importance of us going out and getting a win this week and he put the team on his shoulders on several plays, if not the whole game.”

Of all the moves, the most noticeable change was at the quarterback position, where junior Tripp Barfield, the ace of the baseball team and a former jayvee lineman, completed 3-of-4 passes (all to Brown) and finished with a QB rating of 142.7. In Barfield’s first varsity appearance at the position, it was his game management that impressed the coaching staff.

“We knew he had an arm because he was a pitcher in baseball,” Blank said. “We gave him that chance and he’s really picked up what we’re trying to do. I can’t explain the confidence and composure he played with Friday night. That was the first time he was in a big game situation at quarterback and he looked very calm, composed and made some big plays for us.”

Sawyer echoed his defensive coordinator’s comments.

“There were a couple mistakes at different times that we’ll watch in film, but overall (Barfield) did a very good job,” he said. “He made some crucial passes — one of a touchdown and two others for first downs. He doesn’t make those passes we lose.”

Over the next few days, Washington will tweak its blueprint even more, using the bye week to prepare for a tough Roanoke Rapids team on Sept. 18. The Pam Pack met the Yellowjackets in the third round of last season’s playoffs, locking up a spot in the regional round with a 28-0 shutout.