On To The Quarter Final: Cardinals Sting Hornets

WAITSBURG - The Car­dinals were the only Touchet Valley team still standing in the playoffs this weekend af­ter

trouncing Oroville 49-13 at home Saturday.

The win ends the Hor­nets' season while pitting WP against DeSales for a rematch at 5 p.m. on Friday at Edgar Brown Stadium in Pasco.

After a fruitless Hornets drive on first possession, the Cardinals got on the board quickly with a 12-yard Bart­low pass to TJ Hofer for a touchdown and the same combination for the two- point conversion reverse to advance WP to 8-0 with 7:05 minutes to go in the first quarter. Again, the Hornets went nowhere on their next pos­session, and the Cardinals took over on downs. Under pressure, Bartlow got a 13-yard pass to Dalton Estes in the end zone for touchdown number two with a little over three minutes to go in the first quarter. But that's not when the scoring would end in the period. On the next Oroville drive, quarterback Preston Iverson threw a pass that Bartlow intercepted and ran to the three-yard line from where Cady punched it into the end zone. The extra-point kick gave WP a 22-0 lead with 2:42 minutes to go in the first. The Hornets' running game began to work a bit better in the second quarter, but the short gains weren't anywhere enough to get them close to the red zone. Hofer brought down several Oroville plays, including an Iverson quarterback keep and a pass. WP overcame several penalties and a Hornets' tackle by C.J. Matthews on their way to the red zone. On fourth and goal from the Hornets' 21-yard line, Bart­low

threw a pass to Hofer in the end zone for touchdown number four.

The Hornets immedi­ately got in trouble on their possession when they fum­bled

on a backfield miscue and WP's Shane Eastman recovered it.

Despite an offensive pass interference call against the Cardinals on a Bartlow throw to Dustin Wooder­chak and a Tyler Herrera sack of Bartlow, WP got the pig skin to the 1-yard line from where Justin Arm­strong

blew it into the end zone for the fifth Cardinal touchdown with five min­utes to go in the first half. The extra-point attempt by Dalton Estes went wide left.

The Hornets gained sig­All nificant real estate on their drive before halftime with several first-down carries from Nick Perez and Mat­thews, but with seconds to go before the end of the period, Bartlow intercepted an Iverson pass into the end zone and kept Oroville from scoring. The Cardinals' kick-off after the half netted another touchdown, this time via a long pass to Wooderchak, a short pass to Hofer and a 3-yard TD pass from Bart­low to Dalton Estes with barely seven minutes to go in the third quarter. On the next Hornets drive, Hofer intercepted an Iverson pass and ran it back to the WP 48-yard line. A pass to Cady for a 39-yard touchdown and the extra point from Estes completed the Cardinals' points bar­rage for the night before the end of the third quarter. "We knew they only pass to two guys - number 10 and number 44," Hofer said after the game. "I saw number 44 coming out of the back field." After WP fielded its sec­ond squad during the fourth quarter, Oroville got points on the board with an Iverson pass to Tyler Clark. On the next Cardinals drive, WP fumbled the ball and the Hornets recovered it, then Caleb Whiteaker run it 22 yards for a second Hornets touchdown. The Cardinals denied Oroville a two-point conversion and the final score was 49-13.

WP vs Oroville

WP 22 13 14 0 49

Oro 0 0 0 13 13

Rushing: Kris Cady 5 for 32; Bartlow 4 for 13; Armstrong 3 for 3, and Dalton Estes 2 for 2.

Passing: 15 out of 22 for 205 yards and five touch­downs.

Receiving: 6 for 85 and 2 TDs, 3 for 57 and 1 TD, Wooderchak 3 for 37; Dal­ton

Estes 2 for 16 and 1 touchdown.