PASCO -- Colfax High School football coach Mike Morgan thought he might have the Waitsburg-Prescott offense figured out, but Waitsburg-Prescott coach Jeff Bartlow wasn't so sure about the undefeated Bulldogs.
"It is so hard to game plan for them," Bartlow said after his undefeated Cardinals defeated Colfax 42-13 to earn a berth in next Saturday's 2B state championship game in Tacoma against Morton-White Pass. "They are such a well-coached team, and they do so many things. I had nightmares all week. I feel like I was up for two or three days trying to figure Colfax out."
Colfax's Morgan may have been a little more confident, but he also understands the Cardinals have the one ingredient that is nearly impossible to prepare for.
"We thought we had a pretty good game plan for them," Morgan said. "But there's one thing a great game plan can't do. It can't keep a great athlete from making great plays."
The "great athlete" in this instance is Waitsburg-Prescott quarterback Zach Bartlow.
We knew we had to contain Zach to have any shot at them," Morgan said. "How many times did we have him bottled up? Then he'd just get away and be six or seven yards up the field. But that's what great athletes do. They make plays."
Bartlow was involved in all six of the Cardinal's touchdowns. He completed 13 of 18 passes for 231 yards and four touchdowns. And he ran for 107 yards and two touchdowns.
No one was more surprised by the one-sided nature of the game than Coach Bartlow.
"I thought it was going to be a fistfight of a game," Bartlow said. "And it was early on. But we got a couple of stops after they drove about 50 yards and Billy (Brown) just stole the ball from their guy on one play. Our offense was really tough today."
Waitsburg-Prescott took a quick 14-0 lead, on a four-yard run by Bartlow with 3:09 left in the first period and a 30-yard TD pass from Bartlow to Dalton Estes, the latter coming with 9:28 left in the first half.
For the Cardinals, the win avenged last year's state semifinal loss to Colfax and sends Waitsburg-Prescott to its first-ever state championship game in football.
Colfax closed the gap to 14-7 when Justin Zuger scored from three yards out with 7:35 remaining in the second quarter. But then the Cardinals broke the game open with two touchdowns in less than five minutes, the first on a 46-yard pass from Bartlow to freshman Devin Acevedo with 4:41 left before halftime.
Bartlow then hooked up with Estes on an 18-yard touchdown pass with 22.8 seconds left before the break. Bartlow's 49-yard touchdown run and an eight-yard pass to Riley Stevens finished off the scoring for the Cardinals.
"Our offense was really tough today," Coach Bartlow said. "Zack finally got time to set up and get the ball off. Our offensive line has picked it up so much since the beginning of the season."
Colfax got one final score when Brady Ellis hauled in a 27-yard pass from Justin Berarducci with 7:02 left in the game.
Bartlow got plenty of support on offense from junior running back Billy Brown, who battled for 65 yards on 16 carries against Colfax's physical front. Estes finished the day with seven catches for 128 yards and two touchdowns.
W-P 42, Colfax 13
Waitsburg-Prescott 7 21 14 0 -- 42
Colfax 0 7 0 6 -- 13
SCORING PLAYS
WP -- Bartlow 4 run (Barajas kick)
WP -- Estes 30 pass from Bartlow (Barajas kick)
Colfax -- Li 3 run (Altieri kick)
WP-- Acevedo 46 pass from Bartlow (Barajas kick)
WP-- Estes 18 pass from Bartlow (Barajas kick)
WP -- Bartlow 49 run (Barajas kick)
WP-- Stevens 8 pass from Bartlow (Barajas kick)
Colfax -- Ellis 27 pass from Bartlow (pass failed)
STATISTICS
RUSHING-- WP, Brown 16-65, Bartlow 15-107, Stansell 1-5, Tompkins 2-11, Eastman 2-1.
PASSING--WP, Bartlow 13-18-231. C, Berarducci 8-16-83.
RECEIVING-- WP, Estes 7-128, Acevedo 2-52, Zuger 3-43, Stevens 1-8. C, Hardy 3-32, Li 3-13, Klaveano 1-11, Ellis 1-27.
