POULSBO — On a night of great defense for the Archbishop Murphy football team, the offense sputtered at times in the first half.
Anfernee Gurley took care of that problem in the second half.
Gurley, an explosive junior, returned a punt 59 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter, and then tacked on touchdown runs of 31 and 56 yards in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats defeated host North Kitsap 27-0 on Saturday night in a Class 2A state quarterfinal game.
The victory sends Archbishop Murphy on to the state semifinals next weekend at the Tacoma Dome. The Wildcats will face Tumwater, a 38-21 winner over Squalicum on Saturday.
The Wildcats opened the scoring on their initial possession in the first quarter. The drive covered 60 yards in seven plays with running back Ben Hines bursting through a big hole on the left side for a 5-yard touchdown run. The PAT kick was blocked.
But Archbishop Murphy’s offense cooled after that. The next three possessions ended with two punts and once on downs, and the score was still 6-0 at halftime.
But on a North Kitsap punt midway through the third quarter, Gurley turned in one of the game’s big plays. He fielded a punt on a bounce at the Wildcat 41-yard line, picked up some blocks as he darted up the middle, broke away from a tackler who had a hold of his jersey, and raced on to the end zone.
“When Anfernee broke that punt return for a touchdown, that’s what we needed,” said Wildcats coach Jerry Jensen. “Our offense was not really in sync tonight. North Kitsap’s defense was really good, but we missed some opportunities.
“But when Anfernee was able to break that run, you could see why he was the Cascade Conference’s offensive most valuable player.”
In the fourth quarter, Gurley twice carried around left end and ran to the end zone, using a dive to the pylon for the second of those TD runs. He finished as Archbishop Murphy’s leading rusher with 118 yards on eight carries.
Hines added 68 yards on 17 attempts.
But on the other side of the ball, Archbishop Murphy’s defense stopped the Vikings time after time. On North Kitsap’s 10 offensive possessions, the Wildcats forced six punts, held on downs twice, and got two turnovers.
“The defense won the game tonight,” Jensen said. “They flew around and made plays.”
The Wildcats need to clean up some mistakes, particularly on offense, he went on. “But we’ll get back at it next week, and if anything this is going to make the team hungrier,” he said.
Looking ahead to next week, “we’ll be playing a very good Tumwater team,” Jensen added.
“We’ll have to play lights-out to beat them.”
Archbishop Murphy 27, North Kitsap 0
At North Kitsap H.S.
A. Murphy 6 0 7 14 —27
North Kitsap 0 0 0 0 —0
AM—Ben Hines 6 run (kick blocked)
AM—Anfernee Gurley 60 punt return (Ryan Henderson kick)
AM—Gurley 31 run (Henderson Kick)
AM—Gurley 56 run (Henderson Kick)
Records—Archbishop Murphy 12-0 overall. North Kitsap 8-4 overall.
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