Archbishop Murphy rolls past Black Hills 56-21 in 2A state tourney

EVERETT — Friday’s night’s football game between Black Hills and Archbishop Murphy in the first round of the 2A state tournament had the potential to be a great, but it turned out to be anything but.

The Wildcats jumped all over the Wolves early and rolled to a 56-21 victory to advance to the state quarterfinals and end the season for Black Hills.

“I didn’t expect that at all,” Archbishop Murphy head coach Jerry Jensen said. “Watching those guys on film, their linebackers were big. I didn’t expect us to run as well as we did between the tackles. With this weather, I thought they would compact the box. I’m really proud of how the boys came out and executed today.

The Wildcats set the tone for the night on their first drive with their Wing-T rushing attack. Senior Kerry Jackson found the end zone first, following a 25-yard run into Wolves’ territory with a 27-yard touchdown run to give Archbishop Murphy a 7-0 lead.

Black Hills’ first offensive play went for an 80-yard touchdown pass from junior Christian Williams to senior Mark Melendrez.

Not much else went right for the Wolves.

“It was a great season, a lot of firsts for us,” Black Hills head coach Kirk Stevens said. “We came up a little short today. We ran into a really tough team and they were on and we were a little bit short. It happens sometimes and tonight was one of those where it wasn’t our night.”

The running game was the backbone for the Wildcats throughout the game. Even in the second half with most of their starters on the bench, Archbishop Murphy kept grinding for more yards.

The Wildcats built a 49-7 lead at halftime, allowing Jensen to rest most of his starters with a running clock in the second half.

Jackson rushed for 107 yards on 12 carries and scored two touchdowns. Junior Anfernee Gurley rushed for 67 yards on six carries and scored a touchdown. He also caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Connor Johnson and returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown.

“It’s a great one-two punch,” Jensen said of Gurley and Jackson.

With such a dominant running game, the Wildcats don’t have to throw the ball much, but when they did it was successful.

Johnson finished the game 3-for-3 for 17 yards and two touchdowns, one to Gurley and the other to senior Bailey Singh-Halpin. Defensively, Darion Joseph had a 54-yard interception return for a touchdown for the Wildcats.

Williams finished 8-for-17 for 274 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Wolves.

Archbishop Murphy will face the winner of Saturday’s River Ridge-North Kitsap game next week in the quarterfinals.

At Goddard Stadium

Black Hills 7 0 7 7 —21

A. Murphy 21 28 7 0 —56

AM—Kerry Jackson 27 run (Ryan Henderson kick)

BH—Mark Melendrez 80 pass from Christian Williams (Drew Kimmel kick)

AM—Anfernee Gurley 12 pass from Connor Johnson (Henderson kick)

AM—Jackson 5 run (Henderson kick)

AM—Bailey Singh-Halpin 5 pass from Johnson (Henderson kick)

AM—Darion Joseph 54 interception return (Henderson kick)

AM—Gurley 70 punt return (Henderson kick)