WP Blows By Reardan

WAITSBURG - If you're superstitious, it's always risky to mention the "C" word for fear of jinxing the prospect. But if there's any year to speculate on the possibil­ ity of a WP team going to a state championship game it's 2010, according to Cardinals head coach Jeff Bartlow. Between the soccer and football teams, it's a distinct possibility. They both remain undefeated. "It's that kind of year when you start thinking about it," he said.

WP vs Oroville

Broadcast at 92.7 FM or via www.komw.net The Cardinals beat their first playoff opponent, Rear­dan, on Friday 42-6 in a surprise blowout that was a welcome confidence booster after WP's tough narrow win over TOR. They play Oroville Saturday at 2 p.m. in Waitsburg, retaining the all-important home field advantage over the Hornets, who have to travel more than 300 miles to get here.

With four more "do-or-die" games to play, it's bold to suggest they'll go all the way because it has never hap­pened before. But this year's football team is one of the best WP has ever had. The Cardinals are 10-0, ranked third in the latest Class 2B state poll, and seven of its players have just been selected by the district's coaches as the best in the league, more than any in recent history. Kris Cady passed his 1,000 yards rush­ing mark in the game against Reardan and is on his way to pass Scott Zuecher's 1,044 yards racked up in 1999, said Bartlow, who was elected by his peers as coach of the year again.

In some ways, the Cardi­nals are just now hitting their stride. Friday night's game was a team-wide success, the coach said. The defense largely shut down the Indi­ans'

running game, forcing them into to an ineffective air campaign. WP offense was, "the best it's been all year," while special teams made critical contributions to the outcome of the game, Bartlow said. In contrast to previous games, the Cardi­nals had only one penalty for 10 yards. The Cardinals scored two unanswered touchdowns in the first quarter. The first, an 85-yard kickoff return Kris Cady took into the end zone, was the most important as it took the Indians' breath away 13 seconds into the game and set the tone for WP's domin­ion over Cardinal Field for the rest of the mild Novem­ber evening. The Cardinals scored again on their first posses­sion,

a hammering drive down to the 3-yard line from where quarterback Zach Bartlow punched it into the end zone and connected with Dalton Estes for the two-point conversion to make it 14-0. In the previous week's game against TOR, WP muffed the ball, a Cady er­ror that led to a Nighthawks' touchdown. In Friday's game, the tables were turned WP's way when the Indians muffed on a punt on their 20-yard line. After fiveplays, Bartlow again punched it in, this time from the one-yard line.

To the delight and encour­agement of the home crowd, the Cardinals kept creating opportunities with another score on a short Cady end zone run a little more than six minutes before halftime and again with a 52-yard touch­down Cady run from a Bart­low screen pass with barely half a minute left in the sec­ond quarter, helping make it 35-0 before the break. "We expected it to be a tougher game," Bartlow said, referring to the feared ef­ficiency

and speedy running game of Indians quarterback Chace Bell. "But our defense was outstanding, while the offense really clicked." Quarterback Bartlow said the team practiced with a fo­cus on stopping the Reardan run. "We knew if we could get them to pass, we could get a win," he said after the game.

The only time Chace got a chance to show off his deadly speed was shortly into the second half, when the Reardan quarterback ran the pig skin 56 yards down the sideline for a touchdown. WP came right back with a response in the form of a two-yard Cady touchdown late in the third quarter to set the score at 42-6 with Estes' fourth successful extra-point kick.

Coach Bartlow said Oro­ville, a more athletically talented team than Reardan, has a similar emphasis on the running game, so the Rear­dan game has prepared the Cardinals well for this week­end's next loser-out game.

But the Hornets, a some­what older team, have more running options with quar­terback

Preston Iverson, and running backs JC Matthews and Nicky Perez. They may be physically smaller than the Cardinals, but they have the speed. Plus they have a stronger passing game than the Indians, he said. "They're a better team than Reardan," Bartlow said about the team that has a 8-2 record after beating White Swan on Friday. "They're good on their feet and quick hitters." Cady said reaching the 1,000-yard mark was a team effort. "I owe it to the line," he said. "They wanted it for me."

WP vs Reardan

42-6

Reardan 0 0 6 0 6

WP 14 21 7 0 42

Rushing: Kris Cady 21 for 142; Zach Bartlow 11 for 68; Dalton Estes 2 for 6; LaRue 1 for 4; and Justin Armstrong 3 for 2.

Passing: Bartlow 10-19-1 for 164 yards.

Receiving: Cady 3 for 61, Wooderchak 3 for 36, Dalton Estes 2 for 47 and Powell 2 for 20.