The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG - In their first home game of the season, the Cardinals beat the Pilot Rock Rockets 34 - 14 Friday night. WP is now 2-0 after having won against the Kamiah Kubs in a tough defensive away game last week.

Although there were still plenty of missed and dropped passes on the part of the Cardinals, the evening showed a team getting more comfortable in its skin, particularly on defense.

"We struggled connecting the dots," head coach Jeff Bartlow said about the offense after the game. "But we've made a lot of improvements. I'm proud of them. It's as good a group as I've ever had."

WP shut down the Rockets' offense until the fourth quarter while racking up one touchdown after another. By the end of the third quarter, the score was 34-0. The Cardinals took to the air as much as they rushed the ball in their offense.

The Rockets finally scored a 59-yard running touchdown shortly after the start of the fourth quarter, then scored another one with less than 2 minutes to go in the game.

Had the Cardinals not missed several passes or been penalized as much for holding and face mask calls, the score might have been even higher.

There was not question the defense was a well-oiled machine with a quarterback sack minutes into the first quarter, timely touchdown-saving tackles and an interception.

WP hosts Elgin on Friday.