One week after picking up a season-salvaging victory over White Oak, Washington football coach Sport Sawyer challenged his team to rise up to the occasion and deliver a “signature” victory against Coastal Conference rival D.H. Conley and the Pam Pack responded by rallying past the Vikings 26-21 for a Senior Night victory.
Washington trailed 14-13 at halftime and 21-19 heading into the fourth quarter, but never gave up and in the end picked up the marquee victory that Sawyer had been craving for.
“It’s that signature game,” Sawyer said. “In the past we fumbled or made mistakes but tonight we kept fighting and got the win.”
Washington senior quarterback Jimmy Williams provided a charged home crowd with some stellar plays as he ran for a touchdown and threw a two-yard TD to Marquest Jackson, 31-yard score to Stevie Green and a 45-yard TD to D.J. Bell to up the Pack’s record to 6-3 (3-2).
Down 21-19 midway through the fourth quarter, the Pam Pack received a D.H. Conley (5-4, 2-3) punt at its own 40 and went to work.
Williams, who had been electric all night running for backbreaking scrambles and making clutch throws, dashed 28 yards down field to the Vikings’ 38-yard line to get within striking distance.
After a holding penalty pushed the Pack back to the 45-yard line, Williams, who was lined up as a receiver, went in motion and took the handoff from QB Patrick Thompson and pulled up and riffled a strike to a wide open Bell who caught the pass and raced 20 yards down the right sideline for the game-winning touchdown.
“We told Jimmy all week they like to run a Cover 2 and that when that safety and corner come up we felt like we could hit D.J. on a vertical and that’s what they did,” Sawyer said. “Watching film we thought they might bite, and it worked.”
The score gave Washington a 26-21 lead with 5:07 left to play in the game as the focus turned the Pam Pack defense.
The Vikings received the ensuing kickoff at their own 45 and methodically worked the ball down field chewing up yards and time until they found themselves with a first down at the Washington 26 with 1:50 showing on the clock.
The Pack defense appeared to be bending but it did not break as it surrendered only six more yards over the next three downs, which set up a pivotal fourth-and-four with a little over a minute remaining.
With an energetic crowd screaming for defense, the Vikings set up in a shotgun formation and came dangerously close to being flagged for a delay of game when the ball was snapped wildly and recovered by Conley, but it didn’t matter. The Vikings had turned the ball over on downs and all Washington had to do was take a few snaps in the victory formation.
“The defense has done well all year,” Sawyer said. “We just needed a stop at the end and they gave it to us.”

D.H. Conley    7    7    7    0    —    21
Washington    6    7    6    7    —    26

DHC          WHS
First downs            9           9
Rushes-yards         31-203      24-198
Comp-att-int          2-12-0        10-12-0
Passing yards        50            118
Fumbles-lost          1-0           1-0
Penalties-yards      3-15           4-35
Punts                  4-39           3-28

Scoring Summary
D — Walker Cummings 15 run (Josh Walston kick), 7:54, 1st.
W — Marquest Jackson 2 pass from Jimmy Williams (Cutler kick failed), 4:15, 1st.
W — Williams 1 run (Cutler kick), 7:41, 2nd.
D — Cummings 8 run (Walston kick), 0:00, 2nd.
D — Cummings 38 run (Walston kick), 9:32, 2nd.
W — Stevie Green 31 pass from Williams (two points failed), 6:03, 3rd.
W — D.J Bell 45 pass from Williams (Cutler kick), 5:07. 4th.