WP Pounds Weston McEwen

WAITSBURG - As messy as Waitsburg Prescott's victory over Pilot Rock was last week, Fri­day's 49-6 win over Weston McEwen came up smelling like roses. It was so clean that this weekend's sloppily victorious Seahawks might learn a thing or two from a practice on Cardinal Field.

"That was the biggest thing we focused on," head coach Jeff Bartlow said. "We made a lot of improvement and our goals were met that way."

Last week, the Cardi­nals had five turnovers and 110 yards in penalties. This week, they had no turnovers and only 50 yards in penal­ties. In their victory against the 49ers Sunday, the Se­ahawks had 10 penalties for 84 yards.

Right out of the gate, Chance Laroue caused a Weston McEwen fumble on the kickoff at the 25-yard line and James Thompkins ran it in for a 12-yard touch­down after three plays. With Antonio Benito's extra point kick (he was 7 for 7 during the game), the Cardinals were in business 7-0.

On the Pioneers's next possession, Weston McE­wen advanced to the 20-yard line on a trick play, but on the next play Laroue picked off a pass on the 12-yard line and ran it back 88 yards for the second touchdown.

"The crowd went crazy," Bartlow said. "Everything was going our way."

Having scored twice on defense, the Cardinals' first offensive points came to­wards the end of the first quarter after WP drove the ball down the field and set up Laroue to reach the end zone on a 12-yard run. The Cards were up 21-0.

Quarterback Owen Lan­ning was up next with a 42-yard run in the second quarter, followed by a 4-yard touchdown run to propel his team to a 28-0 half time lead.

But there were more thrills to come. On the Pio­neers' first possession of the third quarter, defensive end Luke Alexenko intercepted a pass into the end zone and ran it a whopping 98 yards for a touchdown on the op­posite end of the field.

"That was huge," the head coach said.

Weston McEwen man­aged to squeeze in their first and only score in the third quarter, getting the ball into the end zone on a 60-yard pass play. The Cardinals squashed any remote illu­sions of a Pioneers come­back when Devon Acevedo ran it into end zone on a 26-yard pass from Lanning, putting WP up 42-7 with one more quarter to go.

The nail in Weston McE­wen's coffin came after the Cards marched relentlessly into Pioneers' territory and Cory Brown burst into the end zone with a 2-yard run, putting the finishing touches on a 49-6 victory.

"We were on defense a lot more than on offensive," Bartlow said of the oppor­tunities his team cashed in on with two touchdowns when they were in a position to exploit their opponents' weaknesses. "We gave up some yards but not any huge plays and scored twice on defense."

Aside from Lanning, Laroue, Alexenko and Acev­edo, Bartlow praised outside linebacker Trenton Kitsel­man, who had 10 tackles and two sacks, never letting up pressuring the other team's quarterback. He also had kind words for Chad Pear­son, whom he switched from wide receiver to offensive lineman, where he did an outstanding job blocking.

"The team's really com­ing around," Bartlow said.

All those improvements are just in time for what the Cards consider their first big test of the season when they come face to face in a rare matchup on a trip to Orofino High, a strong 3-0 team east of Lewiston, Ida.

"It will help us find out who we are and where we're at," Bartlow said about the non-league game on Friday. "We're excited about it."