WP Erupts Against Mary Walker

WAITSBURG - When drawing up pass coverages, most teams scouting Waits­burg Prescott know that suc­cess rests in slowing down the receiving triple threat of Dalton Estes, Roy Ebong and Chance Leroue.

But after James Thomp­kins' 205-yard, four-touch­down reception performance in WP's, 47-8, win last Fri­day over Mary Walker of Springdale, opposing teams will have to account for the 5-foot-7 Jubilee Leadership Academy senior too.

Thompkins pulled in four receptions on the night and all went for six points. The first came on WP's first play from scrimmage. Cardinal quarterback Stirling Eastman found Thompkins behind his defender about 20 yards downfield in the left slot. Thompkins came back to the ball made the catch, then turned and ran the last 25 for the score.

On the next series, on a first-and-24 from the Charger 46, Eastman again connected with Thompkins up the left side. Thompkins out-sprinted one defender to claim his sec­ond touchdown.

Thompkins' next recep­tion came while Mary Walk­er possessed the ball. The Chargers mounted their first sustained drive of the night, marching from their own 32 to the Cardinal 25 on 11 plays. But Thompkins swiped Charger quarterback Josh Anderson's pass on the 12th play and ended the first of Mary Walker's only two scoring chances against WP's first string. Thompkins ended the Chargers' second scoring chance right before halftime-again intercepting an Anderson pass thrown from the Cardinal 25-yard line.

Thompkins finished his career night by pulling in 60- yard and 54-yard touchdown passes. The first came on the second play of the third quarter; the second on the first play of the fourth quarter. By far the more amazing was Thompkins' final catch-a short reception that he took on a cut-back all the way across the field from left-to-right then down the Charger sideline to pay dirt.

"We didn't know we would throw a lot of balls to James tonight," said Eastman. "But (Mary Walker) came out in a "cover-1" and a funky "cov­er 2" with no free safety (to help). When James is one-on- one with a guy, he's the fastest kid in the league, or maybe in the state, at wide receiver. When he's one-on-one I know he's going to beat his guy and it's easy for me. It was a perfect defense to throw to him really."

Not to be lost in the stand- out performance by Thomp­kins was Eastman's career yardage night. The WP senior completed 10-of-16 passes for 286 yards and four touch­downs all to Thompkins. East­man also recorded an intercep­tion one play before throwing his fourth touchdown pass of the night.

"At the beginning of the game, I just thought to myself 'I'm going to have a good game,'" said a happy and fast-talking Thompkins after the game. "It's the play-offs, I need to start stepping it up. Dalton (Estes) has been doing a lot of stuff for the team, so I've got to step it up and the rest of the team's got to step it up too. I just do it for the Lord."

For a time, it looked as though the team would have to step it up to fill in for Es­tes for the remainder of the season, when Estes slipped to the ground on his first punt return of the game and came up holding his ankle in both hands. Estes fell back to the turf to be attended to, but later left the field limping under his own power. He returned late in the second quarter, and played sporadically the rest of the game.

"We had two guys hurt in the first half," WP coach Jeff Bartlow said. "Riley Stevens was dinged on the kick-off and he had to sit out. Then Dalton (Estes) got hurt on that punt return. Both of those guys were out for the first quarter and hardly played, and it really threw us for a loop."

Leroue took most of the hand-offs in relief of the in­jured Estes. Leroue finished with 101 yards on 12 carries and two touchdowns.

WP will play District 5/6 No. 3 seed Oroville, this Fri­day at Edgar Brown Stadium in Pasco in the first round of the Class 2B State Playoffs.

MW0008-8

WP 14 6 15 12 - 47

RUSHING: WP 191 (Leroue 12-101 2 TDs, Eastman 4-24, Estes4-47 1 TD, Lanning 2-14, Alfred 1-5); MW 165 (O'Malley 16-34,Anderson 8-18, Followwill 4-16, Ward 3-29, Cummings 8-68 1 TD).

PASSING: WP 286 (Eastman 10-16-286 4 TDs 1 INT); MW 79(Anderson 11-25-79 3 INTs).

RECEIVING: WP (Thompkins 4-205 2 TDs, Ebong 3-41, Leroue3-40); MW (Ward 5-34, Sulgrove 1-3, Followwill 1-13, Fitzgerald1-10, O'Malley 1-12, Cummings 2-7).

TOTAL OFFENSE: WP 477, MW 244.

FIRST DOWNS: WP 19, MW 14.

TURNOVERS: WP 1, MW 3.

PENALTIES: WP 8-105, MW 4-30.