EVERETT — It’s a new year, a new coach and a new era for Murdock Rutledge and the Everett football team.
The junior quarterback has shined so far this season, throwing four touchdown passes in each of the Seagulls’ past two contests. Rutledge’s receivers — including Louis Davis, Ryan Saltz, Nick Castro, Aki Howell, Elijah Ross-Rutter and Brett Allred — have benefited from a more patient and poised Rutledge this season.
So have the rest of the Seagulls, who have started the year with three consecutive victories.
“He’s a great guy. The one thing I can say about Dock is he’s super consistent,” Everett head coach Doug Trainor said. “He’s always going to give you the responsibility part. It shows on the football field. He plays like his personality is. He’s just consistent. And that’s huge for the quarterback position. When we first got him he was prone to interceptions and fumbles and throwing into coverage and he’s just really learned to settle all that down and be consistent.”
While turnovers plagued Rutledge in the past, the junior has found his form this season. After an overtime win against Shorewood, Rutledge really shined in a 48-32 win in the Battle for Broadway — the annual contest between crosstown rivals Everett and Cascade. In that game, Rutledge was 21 of 35 for 322 yards and touchdown passes of 49, 34, 29 and 16 yards with no interceptions.
“Dock is really flourishing in our offense right now because he understands his role, which is really to get the ball in all of our playmakers’ hands,” Trainor said. “He has quite a bit of development to do. He is not, by any means, the finished product that we want to graduate from here. But one thing that he’s really done well is he’s figured out that if he can eliminate his mistakes, and just get the ball in all of our guys’ hands, it’s going to make him an efficient quarterback. It’s going to make our offense go, we’re going to score a lot of points and I’m really proud of him for that.”
The 6-foot-5 Rutledge said he isn’t doing anything differently from last year. He’s just trying to play smarter this season.
“We’re definitely all stepping up,” Rutledge said. “We all go hard all the time. When we know we need to get there and get the momentum our way we just go all out and win the game. Me, personally, I’m not doing a ton different, throwing-wise. I’m just making better reads and reading the defense better and finding the open guy and getting him the ball. I just want to not get turnovers. The main thing is take care of the ball. I just want to get the guys the ball so they can make the plays.”
“It’s really good that Dock’s getting more comfortable throwing the ball to all of the receivers out here,” Castro said. “He’s not shy or timid with his throws. … He’s just on the ball every time.”
Rutledge, who defers credit to his offensive line and receivers, has been a key component in the Seagulls’ fast start to the season. Everett, which went 3-27 the past three seasons with one victory each year, is 3-0 as Wesco 3A North games start Friday.
“We’re doing really good. I’m so proud of the way the team’s playing,” Rutledge said. “We’ve all come together and tried to get to the one cause: playoffs. … The whole summer we worked hard and in spring practices we worked hard. In spring camp we were beating teams that we didn’t think we’d be able to beat last year or two years ago. So we thought we’d come out pretty strong.”
Trainor said the Seagulls don’t even talk about anything prior to when the first-year Everett coach took over.
“‘Change’ is a tough word for me because, to me, that means that you even care what’s happened in the past,” Trainor said with a laugh. “We just wanted to establish our identity — what we’re all about. We didn’t really even care about what happened in the past because we know it doesn’t matter. We know we can get this thing going the way we want it to look. It’s really all about us. It’s not about anything that’s happened in the past.”
Everett says Trainor has brought a new attitude to the program. The new head coach is positive, enthusiastic and stresses the little things.
“We still have the same team, we still have the same depth, it’s just the attention to the details,” said Davis, a junior. “It’s attention to the little things like blocking, the right fits, paying attention to detail and that way when we go out in games we’re firing on all cylinders. He has us more disciplined. We fly to the ball, we’re just aggressive. He just shaped us to be a hard-nosed football team from Everett.”
“I think it’s coach Trainor that’s brought that attitude to the whole team, of being 100 percent all the time,” Castro said. “Coach Trainor throws a lot of —”
“He brings a lot of tenacity and competitiveness,” Davis quickly added.
“Good word,” Castro said.
Everett’s next challenge is perennial Wesco 3A North contender Oak Harbor. The 1-1 Wildcats don’t have Everett worried.
In fact, the Seagulls say Oak Harbor and its fans should be concerned.
“Going into Oak Harbor we’re just sticking to our game plan and playing Everett football,” Davis said. “We’re going in there knowing that we have a chip on our shoulder and that we’re coming in there for the upset. We’re going to disappoint some Oak Harbor fans.”
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