WHITTEMORE-PRESCOTT - Oct. 31, 2009 - If nothing else, Whittemore-Prescott's football team is consistent in its inconsistency.

The Cardinals' 34-18 victory over Montabella in Saturday' Division 7 playoff opener was a familiar roller coaster ride for W-P coach Kevin Frederick as his team played according to the same formula it's lived by all season.  W-P built a 20-0 lead in the second quarter while playing near-flawless football, made a number of critical errors that breathed life into the Mustangs' comeback effort, then recovered to finish the game with the kind of clutch plays that could have removed doubt from the outcome much earlier.

"Our special teams really need to improve," Frederick said. "Offensively we were Jekyll and Hyde again. We can look good for awhile, but then we put our defense in some bad situations.

"It's a lot to ask of them when they have to start out in the red zone."

That was how the Cards dominated the first half to the tune of a 241-40 edge in total offense in the first half, but were clinging to a 20-12 lead at the half.

Kevin Dupuis' 32-yard run and 2-point conversion reception gave the Cards a 20-0 lead with 6:49 left in the half, but allowed Montabella's Jake Hutson a 70-yard return on the ensuing kickoff. Hutson took two plays to go the final 21 yards to cut it to 20-6. Two plays later, Jake Faber picked off W-P quarterback Dylan DeBoever and returned it to the W-P 1, setting up Joey Quezada's TD plunge.

It very nearly got closer. W-P fumbled a pitch with 20 seconds left that Montabella's Brody Hoffman returned to the Cardinals' 19-yard line. Chris Downes' interception on the final play of the half prevented further damage.

The Cards got some breathing space on their opening drive of the third quarter as Dupuis broke off a 48-yard run, setting up his 6-yard touchdown reception from DeBoever two plays later.

Dupuis has shown a penchant for making big plays just at the point when things looked as though they were getting out of hand for W-P in recent weeks.

"Just being in the playoffs, I really wanted to step it up," he said. "We'd like to go far because there were so many teams before us that did well in the playoffs. We want to go as far as we can. 

"When there's big moments, I've just really wanted to be able to help the team out any way I can. Fortunately I've been able to take advantage of some of those chances."

Hutson and the Mustangs bounced back with a three-play, 44-yard drive that cut the W-P advantage to 28-18. But early in the fourth quarter, Greg Lomason recovered a Montabella fumble on the Mustang 23-yard line, and a pair of personal foul penalties aided W-P's final scoring drive of the afternoon. DeBoever scored the clinching touchdown on a fourth-down, one-yard plunge with 7:17 left.

"I'm really proud of the kids," Frederick said. "A lot of them were pretty sick this week and fighting to get healthy and stay in class. It was a tough week of practice."

Downes led the charge for W-P in the first half, rushing for 171 of his game-high 190 yards before halftime. He opened the scoring with an eight-yard run to cap W-P's first drive, which went 70 yards in seven plays.

Downes added a 50-yard run on the second play of the second quarter to put the Cards up 12-0.

DeBoever was 3-of-5 for 38 yards and one score, with Adam Rumbold making two catches for 32 yards.

Hutson led Montabella (6-4) with 91 yards on 22 carries. W-P ended with a 361-119 edge in total offense.

The Cardinals (9-1) host Merrill (7-3) at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, with the district title on the line.