WP Shows Hornets How It’s Done

PASCO - Dalton Estes, Chance Leroue and Stirling Eastman recorded three touchdowns each last Friday as the offensive juggernaut that is the 2012 edition of Waitsburg-Prescott football team pummeled another op­ponent- this time Oroville, 54-26-and set up a quarter­final showdown with Rear­dan Saturday in Spokane.

"Our offense carried the day," said WP head coach Jeff Bartlow, "They moved the ball, they moved the chains all night. I don't want to say flawless, but close. We ran. We threw. (Assis­tant Coach) Troy (Larson) did a great job of calling the offense, and the kids did a great job of executing it."

WP registered an as­tounding 510 yards of of­fense, but it took nearly half of the first quarter before the Cardinal offense even took the field.

Oroville's offense opened the game on its own 13, but moved the ball 87 yards in just seven plays-four for big yardage-in just 2:09 to score the opening points of the game. Most of the yard­age came via lightning-fast junior tailback/receiver Tan­ner Smith. Smith carried for 13 yards, and pulled in two catches for 46 and 22 yards and a touchdown. The Hor­nets' extra-point try failed.

The Hornets' sonorous sideline hushed however on the ensuing kick-off. Leroue, playing upback, scooped the short kick at the 23, and ran straight up the left hash. He powered through the initial wall of defenders, broke a tackle, then sped away for a 77-yard touchdown return.

The Cards held the Hor­nets to a three-and-out on their next possession. After punt, WP fleetly posted its second touchdown of the game on a four play, 69-yard drive. Leroue's 10-yard blast over right tackle tallied the six.

Oroville's next two pos­sessions ended on downs- one deep inside WP ter­ritory, and one on a risky fourth-and-one from the Hornets' own 36. The sticks were brought in after that play and showed the run­ner was stopped a single inch short of the first down mark. Only 24 ticks into the second quarter and with the ball again, Estes chalked up WP's 20th and 21st points on a 36-yard touchdown run around right end and a PAT boot through the uprights. Estes finished the night with 149 rushing yards.

WP forced Oroville to punt on its next drive, and in five plays tallied a fourth unanswered Cardinal touch­Dan

Estes again finished the drive, this time with a run to the left that he cut all the way back from 12-yards out. With 7:15 left in the half, and a 28-6 lead, it looked as if the rout was on.

But Oroville's offense sprang back to life, answer­ing with a 5:00, 8-play 53- yard touchdown drive-the score coming on a 17-yard pass from Hornet quarter­back Luke Kindred to Smith who had again slipped be­hind the WP secondary.

WP responded instantly, with a three-play, 57-yard drive that took just 45 sec­onds to complete. This time quarterback Eastman carried the ball across the plane up the middle from 5 yards out.

Oroville responded again, running its own version of the hurry-up. Starting at their own 41, the Hornets moved the ball 59 yards in 1:48, scoring a third touchdown with just 22 seconds remaining in the half. Kindred leapt over the line from one yard out for the score.

At halftime, WP led, 34- 20.

The Cardinals secured the victory in the third quarter. The Cardinal offense con- tinued to click to the tune of three more touchdowns, but the defense stepped up its game allowing no scores and limiting yards on the Hornets two-and-a-half pos- sessions.

The other "half" of the Hornets third possession culminated in a touchdown. The 14-play drive ate up 6:30, and included three fourth down conversions. The Hornets followed up the touchdown by successfully fielding an onsides kick-off and running off another 4:00 before failing to convert a fourth down at the WP 24. It was the last scoring threat the Hornets mounted.

"That first half I wasn't real pleased with our D," said Bartlow. "We gave up 20 points and that touchdown right before half. We made some adjustments on defense in the locker room. I'm glad for halftimes. On first downs we started do- ing one thing and on second and third downs something else. And that really stopped them. Probably three times in the second half, they ran on first down and lost yards. Stopping their run was criti- cal, and getting them into that second down and long."

Bartlow lavished praise on his scoring triumvirate- and the offensive cast around them.

"Stirling (Eastman) right now, he's a hot quarterback," Bartlow said of his senior quarterback, who finished the game of 11-for-11 for 259 yards and two passing touchdowns. "He's making good choices, and we're protecting him. And when you can protect him, he can throw the football pretty good. The O-line has re- ally been picking up the blitz. One thing that's really helped is Dalton (Estes) in the backfield. He calls all the stunts and coverages on the O-line. He and Nick (Pear- son) our center work togeth- er. He's so smart back there. Dalton's as great in-between the ears as he is physical. Chance (Leroue) had a big game tonight. We usually answer scores with our offense. We answered with our special teams tonight and Chance wasn't even the deep guy. He just kind of picked it off the ground, had one block, and all of a sudden he's gone. He's a big man with good quicks."

The victory puts WP into the state quarterfinals versus District 7 No. 2 seed Reardan. Reardan earned its way into the match-up with a solid, 20-14, win over Dis- trict 5/6 No. 1 seed Kittitas.

Game time for the quarter- final versus Reardan is Satur- day at 1 p.m. at West Valley High School in Spokane.

Oro61406-26 WP 14 20 20 0 - 54

Rushing: WP 251 (Eastman 6-54 1 TD, Leroue 3-19 1 TD, Estes8-149 3 TDs, Alfred 3-6, Carter 2-23); Oroville 180 (Ocampo 10-20,

Smith 4-26, Kindred 26-89 2 TDs, Mills 8-25, Delgado 1-2, Nigg

6-6, Shearer 2-0, Barbosa 2-10).

Passing: WP 259 (Eastman 11-11-259 2 TDs); Oroville 193(Kindred 9-15-193 2 TDs).

Receiving: WP (Alexenko 1-34, Ebong 3-44, Estes 1-3, Thomp-

kins 4-118 1 TD, Leroue 2-60 1 TD); Oroville (Smith 9-193 2 TDs).

Total Offense: WP 510, Oroville 373.

First Downs: WP 18, Oroville 18.

Penalties: WP 5-67, Oroville 5-48.

Turnovers: WP 0, Oroville 1.

Fourth Down Conversions: Oroville 4-for-6.