Greene Central midfielder Ulises Mora scored on a penalty kick for the Rams in the first half of their 6-5 home loss to Washington on Wednesday. Photo by Laieke Abebe/Neuse News.

Greene Central fell into a deep hole that they nearly dug out of, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.

Down 6-2 with less than 10 minutes left, the Rams ran out of time in a 6-5 loss to Washington on senior night in Snow Hill. With the victory, the Pam Pack (15-2-2, 11-1 ECC) clinched the Eastern Carolina 2A conference championship. 

Last year, both teams shared the title, but this year it worked out to where there could only be one winner. Despite an incredible regular season, it was Matt Gnau’s squad that came out on the wrong end of a hard-fought match.

“I was proud of my boys for fighting back and they didn’t quit,” he said. “We had some injuries during the game, but we didn’t defend well in the second half. I still can’t question my team’s effort against a great Washington team. They played a great game and executed better than we did.”

Washington and Greene Central traded the first four goals. The Pam Pack scored four minutes into the game when Elvin Elizalde sent a shot over the goalkeepers head. Alan Rubio equalized off an assist from Felipe Hinojosa to make it 1-1 in the 11th minute. 

Then, a straight red card and a penalty was awarded to the Pam Pack which Dawson Cox converted. The Rams (18-3, 10-2) earned a penalty of their own which Ulises Mora scored to make it 2-2. A power outage sent the game into a 30-minute delay before halftime.

Washington scored the first four goals of the second half to make it 6-2. Cox, Elizalde, Luis Ramirez, and Graham Parker all but put the game out of reach. However, the Rams fought back with three goals in the last eight minutes to make it interesting.

Jose Morquecho pulled one back for the Rams while Nathan Drake scored the other two. Drake’s free kick with nine seconds left in the game was the final score of the night.

On the ensuing kickoff, all Washington had to do was kick the ball as far down the field as they could and the time ran out. It was the road team that did the celebrating after an intense and competitive game.

“It was a hard fought game by both teams,” Pam Pack head coach Jim Kozuch said. “We just came out focused in the second half to get the job done. (Greene Central) did a great job making it interesting at the end and they’re an excellent bunch, but we’re happy to be conference champions.”

Although the Rams were unable to win the conference title, they’re still in line for a solid playoff seed. Greene Central will likely get to host a first round NCHSAA 2A state playoff game next week. Their next game will be on Wednesday, November 6th with the time and opponent to be determined.

“I told them after the game we have to respond to adversity,” Gnau added. “My players want to make a run in the state tournament, but we have to play better. This game was a good for us because these are the type of teams we’ll see in the playoffs.”