WILSON — A chance to take the lead late in the first half slipped by, and Washington and Beddingfield entered the intermission deadlocked at 6-6. That didn’t stop the Pam Pack from taking a stranglehold of the game right out of the break en route to a 16-12 win.

Washington, now 2-0 in the 2-A Eastern Plains Conference, received the opening kickoff of the second half. Sharwan Staton gave his side a shot of energy with a 22-yard run on the first play of the drive. Staton, making his season debut, capped off the drive with a 7-yard scamper into the end zone.

“(Staton) worked all spring, and worked hard all summer, then he broke his foot,” Washington coach Sport Sawyer said. “I’m very proud of him for staying with it. He easily could have checked out there, but he didn’t.

“There really wasn’t a whole lot of rust. He made some plays. There are some things we’ve got to work on, like timing and stuff, but he made some plays. I thought the offensive line played pretty well, and the secondary played well tonight, as well.”

A successful point-after try proved decisive as the traveling Pam Pack took a 13-6 lead with 7:05 left in the third quarter.

Cooper Anderson snared any momentum Beddingfield may have had when he picked off quarterback Joseph Pender on the first play of the ensuing drive. With little rest following a drive that lasted almost five minutes, the Pam Pack marched down the field again before settling for a 32-yard field goal by Ben McKeithan. It put Washington ahead, 16-6, with 3:29 left in the penultimate period.

“I thought that was huge,” Sawyer said. “All year long, we had the ball first, and so far this season, we didn’t score. That was the game. We set the tone in the second half. … I thought that was very good by the offense doing that.”

Washington kept the ball out of Beddingfield’s hands throughout most of the second half. It devoured the clock with a long fourth-quarter drive that featured three fourth-down conversions. The third came on a reverse play that saw Staton complete a pass to Quashawn Gaynor.

The Pam Pack failed to punch in the touchdown from a yard out. It did, however, give its hosts a long field and little time to work with.

“We wanted to keep the ball running. We changed at halftime to a wing-T formation, and the guys were able to hit holes,” Sawyer said. “We were able to run the clock. They did there, and the defense was able to keep them from getting first downs and got us the ball back.”

The Bruins failed to score until Kenneth Sims caught a touchdown with 11 seconds left in the game.

Beddingfield received the kickoff to start the game, and dueled with the Pam Pack throughout a scoreless first quarter. A bad snap and an unsportsmanlike penalty backed the Bruins up, forcing them to punt it away on their first drive.

Washington ended up having to punt the ball away on its first drive, too. Beddingfield drove down the field, but failed to score when Rontavion Floyd came up with an interception in the red zone.

The Bruins drew first blood with a 2-yard touchdown four seconds into the second quarter. Hykeem Ruffin jumpstarted Washington’s response when he ripped off a 71-yard run along the left side to set up the Pam Pack at Beddingfield’s 5-yard line.

The Bruins almost held defensively. McKeithan missed a chip-shot field goal, but the they were flagged for roughing the kicker. It gave Washington a new set of downs to work with, and Mark Halbert drew even with a 4-yard dash on the next play.

Beddingfield turned the ball over on downs with 1:16 left in the half. Quarterback Frederick Holscher hit Nazzir Hardy on a post route to move the Pam Pack into the red zone, but a 28-yard field-goal attempt came up short.

With a 2-0 start to league play, Washington continues to salvage the season after a winless non-conference stretch. It returns home next week to host North Pitt.