Cardinals Beat Irish Second Year In A Row

WAITSBURG- For the second year in a row, the WP Cardinals subdued their arch rivals DeSales Thursday night, beating the Irish 27-14. The Cardinals are still undefeated at 6-0 and have passed one of the biggest hurdles of the season in their league line-up.

"It was a great football game," head coach Jeff Bartlow said. "It was very sweet."

Although it wasn't last year's edge-of-your-seat nailbiting victory that ended nine years of defeats against the Walla Walla team, Thursday's win did not come easy. Yet the Cardinals dominated for most of the game.

WP fell behind to the Irish only once, after DeSales scored their first touchdown in the opening minutes of the second quarter.

But the home team had answers for everything DeSales put in front of them and the WP sideline and crowd never let up.

While DeSales was beset by penalties, some that allowed WP to hold possession on their drive towards the end zone, the Cardinals' execution was effective. Never once did WP turn over the ball, while Cardinal Justin Armstrong caught an interception that turned the tide and led to the WP equalizer in the second quarter.

With just less than a minutes to go in the first half, Cardinal T.J. Hofer caught a 30-yard pass from quarterback Zach Bartlow and was pushed out of bounds at the 1-yard line. On the next play, Dalton Estes caught a Bartlow pass in the end zone for the Cardinals' second touchdown the put them ahead 14-7 just 25 seconds before the end of the half.

Armstrong intercepted another DeSales pass to deny the Irish a scoring opportunity before the end of the half.

DeSales responded in the opening minutes of the second half with a touchdown pass from Quaterback Jeremy Cox to Ryan Baumgart, tying up the game 14-14 with the extra point.

On the next Cardinals possession, Cady came up big with a 46-yard reception and down the DeSales sideline on the Irish' 18-yard line. A pass to T.J. Hofer brough the drive with a yard with Cady finishing things off with a touchdown that put the Cardinals ahead again 21-14. Well into the fourth quarter, Dalton punted on fourth down but was hit late by a DeSales player, winning the Cardinals a key 15-yard gain and retained possession that got the ball into the end zone a combination of plays involving receptions by Cady and a 5-yard run into the end zone for the Cardinals' fourth touchdown 27-14.

Though WP saw its extra-point kick blocked by the Irish, its defense did not allow DeSales enough ground in the remainder of the quarter to come back and score.