Cardinals Win It!

TACOMA -- The WP Cardinals claimed the 2B 11-man football state title with a 33-7 victory over the Morton/White Pass Timberwolves last Saturday night in the Tacoma Dome.

The undefeated Cardinals became the second WP team to win a state title this fall after the Tigers won it for soccer.

Only two other teams in the state - Odessa and Davenport - accomplished this before in football and volleyball, according to sports historians.

The road to the dome is a journey that began long before the beginning of the 2011 season. For 13 years Head Coach Jeff Bartlow and his boys of fall have been building a program that makes them the caliber of team that they are today.

"Mentally things turned around for us back in 2009 when we defeated DeSales," said coach Bartlow. "That win gave us confidence that we didn't have in the past. Now we have become the team to beat."

The Cardinal's season began with four non-league blowouts that had the games ending with the running clock mercy rule before they opened league play against the DeSales Fighting Irish on their home turf.

After taking home their fifth-straight win, they faced the rival Dayton Bulldog team that gave the Cardinals a run for their money with a narrow 7-6 WP victory.

"The Dayton and Tri- City Prep games were a wake-up call for us," said coach Bartlow. "We had some chemistry issues that made us change some things up that enabled us to keep our perfect season."

After a homecoming victory over the Asotin Panthers and rolling over T-O-R, the Cardinals began their playoff bid where they cruised to the semi-final game against the Colfax Bulldogs.

After being defeated 21- 14 by Colfax the previous year, the Cardinals didn't give anything up rolling to a 42-13 annihilation of the Bulldogs setting them up in the Championship bracket against the Morton/White Pass Timberwolves.

The Cardinals arrived at the dome early Friday afternoon where they had a brief practice and learned that some new shoes would be needed if they were to have maximum traction while on the turf.

Saturday morning entailed another round of film overview from the Timberwolves previous game where the team learned that the Timberwolves were a strong and fast-rushing group of players.

"We knew going in that if we could stop their running game and force them to throw, and hopefully be ahead at the time, that we should win," said Bartlow.

Fans and alumni from as far away as California began packing the stadium a good hour before kick-off. Rising to their feet decked out in their "Who are we?" t-shirts the crowd greeted their Cardinal team as they took to the field for warm-ups.

The Cardinals received the opening kickoff for a touchback and began their first drive on their 20-yard line. After just three plays and 7 yards of offense, Cardinal Dalton Estes punted the ball away.

The Timberwolves began their opening drive on their 35-yard line. The ferocious Cardinal defense gave up only 1 yard in three plays and the Timberwolves returned the punting favor.

The Cardinals plugged away on the ground with alternating carries from Zach Bartlow and Billy Brown for two first downs to set up Dalton Estes with a 24-yard reception that took the Cardinals to the Timberwolves 31-yard line.

The Cardinals were coming in hot with an 11-yard rush from Brown, a reception from Devin Acevedo, and another Dalton Estes reception putting them at first and goal on the 9-yard line.

After being flushed from the nest, quarterback Zach Bartlow scrambled to the 1-yard line before plunging over the goal line on the next play with a keeper.

Jose Barajas split the uprights and the WP boys of fall were first to light the board with 3:14 left in the first quarter.

The Cardinal's defensive line was as solid as a brick house putting the Timberwolves into their second-consecutive punting situation, but lineman Eshom Estes got to the punter a little too late and was cited with a roughing the kicker penalty giving the Timberwolves a first down on the Cardinal's 38-yard line.

The Timberwolves were gaining momentum as they worked to the Cardinal's 22- yard line, but were stopped dead in their tracks as WP's Billy Brown took the quarterback for a 9-yard loss on fourth and six and the Cardinals took over on downs on their 31-yard line.

The Cardinals were in another punting situation with fourth and eight on their 49-yard line, but found themselves on the Timberwolves 36-yard line after Dalton Estes was roughed up on the punt.

The Cardinals drove to the 17-yard line and were denied their second touchdown of the day when a Bartlow/Estes combo was ruled incomplete in the end zone and the Timberwolves took over on downs.

The special teams were called to the field for another Timberwolves punt from their 30-yard line and the Cardinals took over on their 32-yard line with 2:02 left in the half.

A 9- yard rush from Brown and a reception from Justin Zuger were followed up by a 45-yard touchdown reception from Dalton Estes to give the Cardinals a 14-0 halftime lead.

The Timberwolves' first drive of the second half began on their 30-yard line. Daniel Stansell and Dalton Estes took them back for a 4-yard loss and a quarterback sack from Brendon Donovan set them back 5 yards.

The Cardinal defense seemed to have this locked up solid but a couple of missed tackles on fourth and 21 put the Timberwolves at first and goal from the WP 1-yard line.

"I was a little disappointed with that drive," said coach Bartlow. "We'd been playing really good defense, but the boys just didn't wrap up and we missed some tackles."

The Timberwolves put seven points on the board with 5:37 left in the third.

The Cardinals answered with an 80-yard drive to the end zone that included two Bartlow carries for 14 yards, an 8-yard reception from Dustin Wooderchak, and a 47-yard reception from golden gloved Dalton Estes before Brown ran it in from 11-yards out.

Barajas extra point attempt went wide left and the Cardinals were up, 20-7, with 2:25 left in the third.

The Timberwolves next drive began on their 32-yard line, but the Cardinals soon found themselves with the pigskin once again when Dalton Estes chalked up added an interception to his stats on the wolves 35-yard line with 3 seconds left in third quarter.

A Bartlow keeper followed by receptions from Dustin Wooderchak and Devon Acevedo put the mighty big red birds on the Timberwolves' 17-yard line.

Bartlow rushed to the 2-yard line before he found Estes in the end zone for a 26-7 Cardinal lead.

The Timberwolves nearly found themselves in the end zone once again but Dalton Estes got his hands on the pass to break it up and the Cardinals took over on downs.

The next drive was a Bartlow/Billy Brown show as the two exchanged runs before Brown took it in on the left side from one yard out to give the Cardinals a 33-7 lead with 2:27 left in the game.

As the clock wound down, the coaches were drenched with water coolers by the players and the crowd was on its feet.

"This is definitely a game that is won in the trenches," said Bartlow. "Our offensive line did a great job protecting Zach every time he had to throw. Billy did a great job of picking up the blitz."

"Both sides of the line dominated the game. Defensively we started out with a 4-4 stack and never needed to change that up. Having Eshom Estes on the inside with Zuger and Zach back worked really well," said Bartlow. "The first quarter has been a tough one defensively this season. I'm really proud of the line, they really stepped it up today."

Zach Bartlow finished the game with 98 yards rushing on 22 carries with one touchdown.

He completed 14 of 21 passes for 207 yards with two touchdowns. He also received the sportsmanship award for the game.

Dalton Estes was a shoein for the Most Valuable Player Award with two interceptions returned for 41 yards.

He snagged six receptions for 136 yards and two touchdowns.

Billy Brown rushed 46 yards in 9 carries for two touchdowns and had two receptions for 14 yards.

Justin Zuger added 12 yards to the offense with a reception and Wooderchak grabbed three receptions for 36 yards.

Acevedo contributed two receptions for 9 yards.

The Cardinals offense tallied 207 yards receiving and 140 yards rushing.

The defense allowed only 163 yards of the Timberwolves' offense and caused one fumble.

The 2011 WP Cardinal undefeated state championship season is one for the record books.

Every single one of these boy's hard work, sweat, and tears will never be forgotten for generations to come.

As games will come and go, and won and lost, one thing is for sure; the WP 2011 boys of fall have definitely left their tattoo on this town.

Par ty For WP Football Team

Thursday, Dec. 15, 6:30 p.m. Ye Towne Hall, Waitsburg RSVP 337-9474