District Champions!

ASOTIN - Despite the turnovers, despite the penal­ties and despite the home­town referees' micro offi­ciating, to put it kindly, the WP Cardinals did what they couldn't do last year: beat the formidable Asotin Panthers on their own turf. WP's 28-8 victory made the Cardinals league cham­pions, which means they will host the first playoff game in Waitsburg on Nov. 3. "It was disappointing to win the championship this way," head coach Jeff Bart­Cardinals

said after the game. "This (the penalties) is our Achilles heel. We have to put our foot down and clean it up. In a playoff game it's going to hurt you." The Cardinals had the advantage of being an older, more experienced team. Aso­tin, with a 4-3 overall record, lost to DeSales 70-30 earlier in the season, while WP de­feated the Irish themselves handily. Under a mild sky on the well-lit Panthers field stone's throw from the Snake River, the Cardinals came out swinging with a TJ Hofer touchdown from an 18-yard Zach Bartlow pass. Though rain was forecast for the evening, the only precipitation was a predict­able shower of yellow flags for what often seemed the vaguest offenses against the Cardinals who admittedly deserved a few of the mark­ers. "They just kept throwing flags," Bartlow said. "Some of it was our problem." After a pass to Kris Cady was almost intercepted, the Panthers took over on downs but didn't get far when WP's Guillermo Hernandez recov­ered an Asotin fumble. The Cardinals marched to the red zone but got bogged down around the 6-yard line and missed the field goal attempt. TJ Hofer and Eshom Estes spoiled much of the Panthers' next possession, tackling and breaking up plays. The Car­dinals' first turnover came on their next possession when the Panthers recovered a Cady fumble. But Hernan­dez, Morgan Robinson and David Brock stopped the Asotin offense, putting WP back ind the driver's seat. The Cardinals had to take two runs at the end zone for their second touchdown. The first one, a Cady rush over the goal line, was called back for an illegal motion call. In the second one, Bartlow first completed a pass to Anthony Powell, then delivered a pig skin package to Cady who scored the touchdown. Dal­ton Estes' extra-point kick made it 14-0 with 22 second to go in the second quarter. On the Cardinals' first possession on the second half, Bartlow threw a long 54-yard pass to Powell who ran it in for WP's third touch­down with Estes' kick putting 21 unanswered points on the scoreboard. WP held the Panthers scoreless for the rest of the third quarter, but Asotin was already in the red zone. Sec­onds into the fourth quarter, Asotin drove in hard toward the goal line, setting up a 1-yard Ben Servatius quarter­back

keep for the touchdown, followed by a two-point con­version. The next WP drive got a yard from the red zone, but the Asotin defense held. However, the Panther's first pass was deflected and caught by Cady who ran it to Asotin's 18-yard line. Bartlow kept it for a 9-yard carry, and Cady ran it in for a 9-yard touchdown.

Estes' kick was good for the Cardinals' 28th point of the game. The WP defense forced four turnovers - three in­terceptions and a fumble, while the WP offense had a fumble and an interception. The Cardinals put 268 yards on the ground and 201 yards passing for an impressive 469 offensive yards.

Quarterback Bartlow, run­ning backs Cady, Powell, Hofer, Eshom Estes, Dustin and Justin Arm­strong led on offense, while Henandez, Tre Brannock, David Brock and Robinson led on defense. WP travels to Oakesdale to play fourth-ranked TOR Friday, but even if the Cardi­nals lose and tie with DeSales for the top spot in the district, WP breaks the tie because the team beat the Irish earlier in the season.