WP Passes Over Reardan

SPOKANE - Waitsburg- Prescott's quick-hit offense scored the first three touch­downs of its quarterfinal match- up with Reardan here Satur­day, while its defense held the grind-it-out Indian running attack scoreless over the game's first 21 minutes. The Indians mustered a fight before the final siren sounded, but the early deficit proved too much to overcome. The Cardinals fly on to a state semi-final tilt with No. 2 ranked Lind-Ritzville/ Sprague on the wings of the, 39-12, quarterfinal victory over the Indians.

The Cards lit up the West Valley High School score­board for the first time before many fans had even taken their seats. On the game's first play from scrimmage, Stirling East­man connected with speedster wideout James Thompkins on a quick pass to the left flat. Thompkins did the rest, outrun­ning all defenders 70 yards for the touchdown.

WP forced Reardan into a three-and-out on its first series, and after the punt had the short field starting at the Indian 49. But five plays later, facing third-and-17, WP committed its only turnover of the game when Eastman found Indian Dustyn Rettkowski instead of his in­tended target Riley Stevens.

Reardan's rushing game effectively moved the ball on its second possession, using eight running plays to advance the ball from its own 36 to the Cardinal 29. Facing fourth-and- six and out of field goal range, the Indians chose to go for the first down and do it through the air. But the ball went over to the Cards when Estes volleyball- spiked Reardan quarterback Wyatt Nieman's pass to Nathan Sorci to the wet grass.

WP passed, passed, passed, then ran, ran, ran its way to a 14-0 lead on its third pos­session. Eastman completed passes of 28, 7 and 21 yards to tight end Chance Leroue and receiver Riley Stevens driving the ball to the Indian 14. A 12-yard run by Estes set up the Cards on the Indian doorstep at the two. With 1:12 left in the first quarter, Estes finished the drive on an option pitch from the 1-foot line.

WP's third scoring posses­sion started from the 20-yard line at 10:30 mark of the sec­ond quarter. After a false start backed them up to the 15, the Cards utilized Thompkins explosiveness again-first to climb out of the long field hole via a 21-yard reception, then to tally their third touchdown on a 55-yard catch-and-run up the right sideline.

Reardan finally scored on its fifth possession, and thanks to a sleepy WP defensive effort. Up to that point Reardan had managed just 3 yards per carry. Then in two plays, Reardan gashed the center of the WP de­fense for 17 yards and 63 yards and a touchdown. Sorci tallied the score with a plunge over left guard through a sea of de­fenders, though he was hardly touched on the way through or down the field on his way to the end zone. Reardan was back in the ballgame down, 21-6.

But WP crushed Reardan's hopes of a two-score deficit at halftime by scoring a fourth touchdown in the final minute before intermission. Receiving the ball at its own 25 with 3:08 remaining, Eastman completed a 13-yard, third down pass to Roy Ebong, a 21-yarder to Estes on the next play with 15-yards added on for a face mask penalty, and two plays later an 18-yard strike to Leroue who carried the ball down to the Reardan 8-yard line. Two plays after that, Estes punched the ball in from 7 yards out, cutting the Indians hopes to hanging by very small threads.

Neither team scored on its first possession of the second half, but Reardan posted six on its second. Starting at their own 27, the Indians used 13 plays-11 running and two passing-and the final 5:55 of the third quarter to move the ball 73 yards to the end zone. Sorci's 31-yard dash on the third play of the drive was the big blow. Sorci finished the drive on a 1-yard dive play with zeroes on the clock.

WP took no time in respond­ing, doing the same amount of damage in less than 30 seconds. This time it was Eastman hook­ing up with Ebong from 55 yards away for a touchdown. Ebong's man bit on the screen pass fake to the ever-dangerous Thompkins. Ebong broke clear behind the backfield and no one stood within a city block of him when he made his catch 25 yards downfield.

Down three scores again and forced to the air, Reardan finished its final three drives of the game with interceptions. Four different WP players came up with picks for the game: Stevens, Estes, Ebong, and frosh second-stringer Ko­bie Brown. Eastman pounded in WP's final touchdown from 1 yard out at the 2:54 mark of the fourth quarter.

Eastman finished the game, 16-of-24, passing for 366 yards, three touchdowns and one first half interception. Two WP receivers caught for more than 100 yards-Thompkins for 146 on three catches and Ebong for 107 on five. Estes fell just short of another 100-yard rush­ing performance racking up 91 yards on 13 carries.

"The weather was perfect, up until the end," WP head coach Jeff Bartlow said. "It was supposed to rain all day, and we come out here and it was like we were in the Bahamas. It was nice and warm. We wanted to throw right away, and the kids just executed like we did in prac­tice all week. That's the whole idea-get a lead and it puts (a running team) in a fix. That's why we needed early scores. If we made them throw, we were right where we wanted to be."

Next up for the Cardinals is Lind-Ritzville/Sprague. The game is scheduled for Sat­urday at 2 p.m. at Lampson Stadium in Kennewick. The L-R/S Broncos squeaked by WP archrival DeSales, 21-14, last Saturday in Spokane. The winner of that game advances to the Gridiron Classic in the Tacoma Dome one week from Saturday. If the Cardinals win against Lind-Ritzville/Sprague, they would face either LaCon­ner, or a rematch against last year's runner-up Morton-White Pass.