WP Overpowers DeSales

WAITSBURG - The win wasn't quite as sweet as last year. The crowd didn't take the field after the whistle, and the final score of 27-14 didn't seem as unbelievable as WP's last-minute 2009 victory over DeSales. But that's precisely why WP head coach Jeff Bart­low said the team has even more reason to celebrate last Thursday's defeat of the Irish than the one the year before.

"Last year, we felt we could beat them but knew it would be close," he said. "This year, we came out with a swagger. It was more of an expectation that we'd win. To beat them two years in a row says a lot about our kids and what direction we're headed as a team."

With each win, each de­fensive shutdown, each suc­cessful offensive connection between quarterback Zach Bartlow and Kris Cady or T.J. Hofer or Justin Arm­strong,

the 2010 Cardinals' experience and efficiency grow, leading to the kind of shatterproof swagger the head coach smiled about af­ter the game. What adds to the team's confidence is its disciplined execution of plays evident in WP's total lack of turnovers so far this year. By contrast, DeSales had numerous errors and penal­ties that cancelled out some of its otherwise impressive passing yardage.

Perhaps the only weak­ness the Cardinals still face well into the season is the team's dependence on Cady, who rushed 19 times for 140 yards on offense and picked up the blitz on de­fense.

WP can take comfort in the thought that the senior athlete isn't injury prone.

Victory didn't seem guar­anteed from the game's out­set. After holding off the Irish on their first drive, the Car­dinals

could not get closer to the end zone than the DeSales' 20-yard line. Tak­ing over on downs on their own 20, DeSales put together a successful push to the red zone on a series of Kyle Lindgren carries and one from Mike Matthews that brought the ball to the WP 15-yard line before the end of the first quarter.

Only seconds into the second quarter, a Jeremy Cox (quarterback) pass to Mat­thews in the end zone gave DeSales its first touchdown. The Cardinals did not answer on their next posses­sion, as the drive stalled at mid field, but the Irish did not get the ball back long. Armstrong intercepted a Cox pass, reading the playing as it unfolded.

On the ensuing drive, Cady showed his mettle as a running back, driving hard toward the Irish end zone despite tackles and near-trips. WP got hung up within the Irish' 15-yard line, tangling with the DeSales defense. But Bartlow went for it on fourth down and 4, passing to Cady, who picked his way down the Irish sideline to reach the end zone for the first WP touchdown. Dalton Estes' extra-point attempt tied the game with more than four minutes to go in the first half. DeSales' last drive of the half was see-sawed by penal­ties, a quarterback sack by Eshom Estes and a tackle that kept the Irish on the middle of the field, forced to punt.

WP started with a touch­back and less than two min­utes to go on their own 20. Bartlow threw a quick pass to Hofer, who ran out of bounds to stop the clock. Several more WP carries brought the ball to the DeSales' 33-yard line for a first down.

Bartlow completed an­other laser-like pass to Hofer, who ran it until he was tack­led on the 1-yard line before stepping out of bounds. Another Bartlow-Cady throw for a touchdown and Estes' extra point put the Car­dinals

ahead on the board 14-7. A quick, last-ditch pre-half effort by the Irish brought their offensive line to the Cardinals' 40-yard line, but Armstrong intercepted Cox's next pass and shut down the hurry-up drive.

At the start of the third quarter, the Cardinals had trouble getting the ball deep out of their own territory and got off a short punt, which DeSales brought back to the WP 28-yard line. Despite another Irish penalty, Cox threw a pass to receiver Ryan Baumgart in the end zone for the game-tying touchdown.

"That when we lost mo­mentum," Cady said after the game. "We had trouble get­ting off the 5-yard line, and then they scored." The fits and starts that characterized the beginning of the next WP drive was al­most

like a faulty trigger that suddenly worked and shot Cady past his blockers down the Irish sideline for 46-yard run well into DeSales terri­tory on the 18-yard line. "My teammates helped me pull through," Cady said.

Again Hofer got WP with­Tigers in a foot of the goal line after catching a pass from Bartlow, a spot from where Cady put the finishing touch on the drive with another touch­down. Despite an impressive kick-off return to their own 35-yard line, the Walla Walla team did not get the pigskin past its own 40-yard line be­fore punting it. The Cardinals knocked on the door on the next drive but got bogged down on the 5-yard line and turned the ball over on downs before the end of the third quarter. DeSales did worse on its next possession.

The next WP drive would have petered out as well had it not been kept alive by a late DeSales against Estes on the Cardinals' punt, leading to a 15-yard penalty for a WP first down on the DeSales' 18-yard line. A Bartlow pass to Cady got enough for another first down on the 5-yard line, from where Armstrong ran it in for WP's fourth touch­down with almost seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter. DeSales was successful at blocking Estes' punt but not on its final possession of the game, which was marked by solid WP defense, DeSales penalties and incomplete passes. Bartlow, Cady and their teammates tried for one more run around the Irish with a combination of carries and quarterback keeps that failed to get the Cardinals out of their own territory before the team simply ran out the clock on DeSales.

WP vs DeSales

27 - 14

WP 0 14 7 6 27

DeSales 0 7 7 0 14

Rushing:

Kris Cady 19 carries for 140 yards

Zach Bartlow 17 for 34

Armstrong 3 for 5

Total 179

Passing:

Bartlow 14 out of 21 for 207 yards

Receiving:

T.J. Hofer 6 for 100

Kris Cady 5 for 80

Dalton Estes 3 for 27