The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG -- Recalling the grace-under-pressure composure WP Cardinals Quarterback Zach Bartlow displayed in his team's climb to the title game last football season, it seems hard to believe that he was afraid of being a football player at one time.

It was back in fifth grade. He was just a few days too old to stay with the Little Giants, the team he'd played for since third grade. So he became one of the youngest and smallest players on the Big Giants.

"I was scared," he said, explaining that the big eighth graders on the other teams were pretty foreboding. "That wasn't a good year for me."

The only other year that wasn't the best for Bartlow was his first one as a freshman quarterback. He started in just one game that season and it didn't go so well. He threw three picks and the team lost by a touchdown.

But it couldn't have gone much better all the other years Bartlow was involved in his favorite sport. Ever since he threw a long touchdown pass in his Little Giant's "Superbowl" game and discovered he "could do this," he embraced every challenge in the sport wholeheartedly. He steadily got better with the help of, among others, Alan Wilson, who coached him in some capacity or another on every team since third grade.

Although Zach's father Jeff Bartlow played catch with him from a young age and encouraged him to pursue football, the elder Bartlow didn't start coaching his son until high school.

Everyone who has been following the success of the Cardinals knows Bartlow is arguably the best quarterback in the 2B division. He won the Associated Press' 2011 2B Player Of The Year. He took his team 9-2 as a sophomore, 12-1 as a junior and 14-0 as a senior.

So it should come as no surprise the senior was recruited heavily by two college teams in the National Athletic Interscholastic Association: Eastern Oregon University and The University of Montana Western.

In the end, Bartlow made it easy on himself, his family and his fans. He chose the Eastern Oregon Mounties - just 95 miles from Waitsburg in La Grande, Ore., where he hopes to start as a quarterback on a full football scholarship.

"I wanted to be far away enough to be on my own, but close enough to come back," he said.

Eastern Oregon is part of the Frontier Conference, which includes smaller college teams from Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Utah.

Aside from other schools who wanted him but couldn't offer a scholarship, such as Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore., and Whitworth University in Spokane, Bartlow also had the option of being a "walk-on" at Eastern Washington University or Idaho State University.

But he didn't like the prospect of being fifth in line to start as a quarterback and be "buried on the depth chart" as a freshman.

The senior had a bit of a reality check when he went to several Ivy League scouting camps last summer, where he tried out with hundreds of high school seniors, where everyone was good and where he didn't feel like "anything special."

There's no question his future college thinks he's special.

" We're very excited he chose Eastern," head Mounties coach Tim Camp said.

Bartlow said it was the perfect fit.

"The smaller schools wanted me more," he said. "They believe in me. At Eastern, I will compete right off the bat."

Yes, "compete" because Bartlow's prospect as a starting quarterback his first year isn't quite a done deal yet. An older junior college transfer is also vying for the position. Either way, Bartlow is guaranteed to be on the team and guaranteed to get a scholarship.

The all-around Cardinal athlete is the only Waitsburg quarterback to have taken his high school team to the state title game and one of the few graduates to go on to play college football in recent decades.

The other player who comes to mind is Mike White, now a retired school teacher who played for the Mounties in the early 1970s.

He joined the team after serving four years in the Navy following his graduation from Waitsburg High School.

"I had a good experience at Eastern," said White, who still lives in Waitsburg after retiring half a decade ago, following three decades at the Waitsburg School District. "I met a lot of good people and made a lot of friends."

White played as a tight end his first two years at Eastern Oregon, followed by two years as a quarterback. Those last two years, the Mounties came within one game of going to the playoffs in what was then known as the Evergreen Conference.

The former Cardinal said he's excited Bartlow will play for his alma mater.

"I hope Zach has the same success there (as Bartlow had in high school)," White said.

Bartlow said for Waitsburgers interested in seeing the Mounties play, there should be about half a dozen home games in La Grande this fall. They usually start around 2 p.m. on Saturdays, so there's no conflict with Friday night Cardinal games.