Staples Motley scored early and often on the way to a 44-0 first round win over East Grand Forks in the Section 8AAA playoffs Wednesday night in Staples.

The win set the stage for the No. 3 seeded Cards to face No. 2 seed Perham Yellowjackets Saturday night at 6 p.m. on the Perham field.

Wednesday night Cardinal Blake Petrich, who racked up 80 yards rushing, scored the team's first two TD's, on four and eight yard runs, for a 14-0 lead 50 seconds into the second quarter.

The Cards added two more scores in the final two minutes of the quarter. Brandon Wing capped a five play drive with a 14- yard score with 1:45 left. After forcing a Green Wave punt, Alex Janson followed up with his own 14 yard score, one that was set up by a 35 yard gainby Dylan Hales. It was 28-0 at half.

It was the Cardinal defense's turn to score. East Grand couldn't handle the kickoff and started from their one yard line. Two running plays went backward, the last five yards into the end zone for a two point touchback.

East Grand kicked to the Cards, who used eight plays to score, Brandon Wing getting his second TD, making the score 36-0. SM's final score was a long bomb, Jansson hitting the speedy Hales for a 60 yard play with 4:45 left in the third quarter.

The Cards had 332 yards on the ground and 139 on three completed passes for a total offense of 471 yards. Hales had 78 yards on the ground, Jansson 51 and Wing 41 to lead the Cards.