The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

ASOTIN - Two big plays proved the difference in Waitsburg-Prescott's must- have victory at Asotin last Friday.

The, 26-14, win nearly guarantees the Cardinals control of their own destiny in the chase for the Southeast 2B title as they go into their final regular season game this Friday against Tri-Cities Prep. After a first half defen­sive slog, the Cards posted the two, long-field scores in the span of just a minute-and- a-half late in the third quarter to put some distance between themselves and the home squad Panthers.

The first touchdown came via Dalton Estes' legs-a 52-yard touchdown dash through the left side of the Panther defense. After break­ing two initial tackles at the line of scrimmage, Estes sprinted the next 45 yards untouched for six. On the very next play of the next possession, WP scored again, this time on a trick play. Estes took the option pitch from quarterback Sterling East­man then pulled up to fire a bomb down the right sideline to receiver Chance Leroue. Leroue reached up, caught the ball over a defender at the 15-yard line, then stayed in bounds dancing down the sideline on his way to the house.

The two scores staked WP to a 26-7 lead, but Asotin made the game uncomfort­able for the Cards in the fourth quarter.

After a fumble by WP's Roy Ebong on the Cards' next drive, Asotin pushed the ball down to the Cardinal 11-yard line. The Panthers, however, failed to convert a fourth-and-five, and WP took over on downs.

Asotin regained posses­sion at the 6:06 mark when Eastman threw his second interception of the game to Dayton Krull. Krull ran the ball back to the WP 10 yard line before he was brought down. Three plays later, Asotin put up six on an Erik Loseth to Beau Magnuson 8-yard touchdown pass. The Cardinal lead shrunk to 12 points with 5:30 remaining.

The Cards suspected an on-side kick, and put in their hands team in preparation. But the Panthers booted it deep to inexperienced return­er James Thompkins, the lone man back 40 yards behind his teammates. Thompkins let the ball roll to a rest at the five yard line before picking it up and attempting a return. Asotin players downed him at the nine, where the Cards would start their final drive.

Three times Asotin forced WP into third downs during the possession, and three devastating times the Cardi­nals converted. The 12-play drive consumed the final five minutes of the game, and forced Asotin to use all of its timeouts along the way. Asotin never regained pos­session.

The game ended on an Eastman kneel-down just across midfield.

" Defense is Asotin's strength," noted WP head coach Jeff Bartlow. "Colfax only beat them, 22-6. We knew that this team on this field is very difficult for us. I knew it was going to be a good game, and they had enough athletes to keep it close. But we made it a little bit closer throwing that pick. The mistakes we made in the second half (the fumble, the interception, the kick-off return)-we just can't make those kind of mistakes."

Estes logged his second successful start at running back for the Cardinals. The WP senior rushed the ball 25 times for 244 yards and two touchdowns.

Leroue recorded a stand- out night among receivers with four catches for 73 yards and a touchdown. Quarter­back Eastman finished 10-of- 20 passing for 100 yards and two interceptions.

The win bumps the Cardi­nals record to 7-1 overall, 3-1 in league. They are tied with DeSales for second place at 3-1, one-half game behind T-O-R at 4-1. If DeSales defeats 1-win Asotin Friday in Walla Walla (likely), and WP beats Tri-Cities Prep at home, the league will finish dead-locked in a 3-way tie for first place. WP, however, would be crowned league champion and hold the No. 1 seed in the first round of the play-offs because it won the preseason draw for three- way ties.

If the Cardinals lose and DeSales wins, WP would finish tied for third with TC Prep, but be seeded fourth because of the head-to-head loss. That would mean a horrendously difficult match- up with Lind-Ritzville- Sprague-the likely No. 1 seed from District 7-in the first cross-over round of the play-offs.

WP 66140-26

Asot 07 07-14

WP - Estes 46 Run (PAT fail)

WP - Eastman 2 Run (PAT fail)

A - Davidson 36 Run (PAT good)

WP - Estes 52 Run (PAT good)

WP - Estes to Leroue 45 Pass (PAT good)

A - Loseth to Magnuson 8 Pass (PAT good)

Rushing: WP 242 (Estes 25-244 2 TDs, Eastman 10-(-1), Stansell1-(-2), Thompkins 1-1).

Passing: WP 145 (Eastman 10-20-100 0 TD 2 INTs, Estes 1-1-451 TD).

Receiving: WP (Stevens 1-6, Leroue 4-73 1 TD, Ebong 4-41, 2-25).

Total Offense: WP 387, Asotin 183.

First Downs: WP 13, Asotin 6.

Penalties: WP 4-58, Asotin 2-20.

Turnovers: WP 3, Asotin 2.