Cardinals Beat Rockets In First Home Game

WAITSBURG - In their first home game of the sea­son, the Cardinals beat the Pilot Rock Rockets 34 - 14 in a Friday night football game that excited the home crowd and bode well for the season.

WP is now 2-0 after hav­ing won against the Kamiah Kubs in a tough defensive away game last week.

"It was a nice thing to see us improve and move forward," head coach Jeff Bartlow said.

The Cardinals rushed or passed for an impressive total of 380 yards with 156 on the ground and 224 yards in the air, an equation Bart­low said reflected the kind of balance the team should aim for. "It's so important to have balance in this league, and we had that again on Friday," he said. "It just makes us stronger and less predict­able." Although there were still plenty of missed and dropped passes on the part of the Cardinals, the evening showed a team getting more comfortable in its skin, par­ticularly on defense.

"We struggled connect­ing the dots," Bartlow said about the offense after the game. "Our offensive lined improved but still is our number one concern."

Quarterback Zach Bart­low and running back Kris Cady did connect well dur­ing the game. Cady received the ball seven times for a to­tal of 100 yards, followed by Joe Purdin with three for 31 yards, Dustin Woodercheck with 2 for 45 yards and Dal­ton Estes with 2 for 39 yards. Cady also ran for 67 yards, followed by Estes with 44 yards and Arm­strong with 29 yards, includ­ing a 28-yard touchdown. "I'm proud of them," Bartlow said. "It's as good a group as I've ever had."

WP shut down the Rock­ets' offense until the fourth quarter while racking up one touchdown after another. By the end of the third quarter, the score was 34-0. The Rockets barely eeked out six rushing yards and were forced to go to the air for 186 yards. T.J Hofer recovered a fumble, which he ran into the end zone for a touch­down. The Rockets finally scored a 59-yard running touchdown shortly after the start of the fourth quarter, then scored another one with less than two minutes to go in the game. But WP was never in "any real danger and gave up ground grudgingly," said Bartlow, who pointed to middle backer Tre Brannock as a force on defense with eight tackles.

Had the Cardinals not missed several passes or been penalized as much for holding and face mask calls, the score might have been even higher. WP had 10 pen­alties Friday and 12 in their first game against Kamiah, something "we just need to clean up," Bartlow said. There was no question the defense was a well-oiled machine with a quarterback sack minutes into the first quarter, timely touchdown-saving tackles and an inter­ception.

WP vs Pilot Rock

34-14

Rushing:

Kris Cady 11 for 67 yards

Dalton Estes 7 for 44 yards

Justin Armstrong 2 for 29 yards (28-yard TD)

Zach Bartlow 4 for 19 yards

T.J. Hofer 1 for 1 yard (TD fumble recovery)

Steve Rivas 1 for 2 yards

Total: 156 yards

Passing:

Zach Bartlow 16 complete passes out of 24 for 224 yards

(3 TDs/no interceptions)

Receiving

Kris Cady 7 for 100 yards

Dustin Wooderchak 2 for 45

Dalton Estes 2 for 39

Joe Purdin 3 for 31

Guillermo Hernandez 1 for 5

T.J. Hofer 1 for 4

Total: 224 yards

Pilot Rock:

Rushing 6 yards

Passing 186 yards

Total 192 yards