TACOMA – Archbishop Murphy head football coach Jerry Jensen had trouble finding words after his team lost Saturday’s 2A state semifinal to Tumwater 24-21, but the words he did find summed up the loss perfectly.
“We played a pretty good football team and we had it,” Jensen said. “We let it slip through our fingers.”
The Wildcats led 14-0 in the second quarter and 21-7 at halftime, but Tumwater scored 17 unanswered points in the second half to pull off the comeback and end the Wildcats’ season.
After a scoreless first quarter, Archbishop Murphy claimed momentum early in the second quarter when junior quarterback Connor Johnson connected with senior Bailey Singh-Halpin on a 32-yard touchdown pass to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.
The Wildcats’ speed was a problem for the Thunderbirds throughout the first half. Archbishop Murphy junior Anfernee Gurley intercepted Tumwater’s Noah Andrews on the next possession and Gurley scored moments later on a 33-yard touchdown run to put the Wildcats up 14-0.
Tumwater answered with a quick two-play 76-yard drive that ended with a 43-yard touchdown run by Andrews, but that was as good as things got for the Thunderbirds in the first half.
Archbishop Murphy forced a turnover on downs with just over a minute to play in the first half. The Wildcats, who started at their own 23-yard line, quickly moved the ball down to the Tumwater 1-yard line thanks to receptions of 41 yards by Gurley and 26 yards by sophomore Kyler Gordon. Johnson scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak as time expired in the first half to give his team a 21-7 lead at the intermission.
Three players led the way for the Wildcats in the first half. Johnson completed 7 of 8 passes for 176 yards with a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown. Gurley caught three passes for 73 yards and rushed for 44 yards on three carries, including his 33-yard touchdown run. Singh-Halpin also caught two passes for 72 yards.
One of the Wildcats’ few mistakes in the first half was a fumble lost by Gurley. It didn’t cost the Wildcats, but turnovers haunted them in the second half and the offense that had worked so well in the first half produced no points after halftime.
Tumwater scored a touchdown on the opening possession of the third quarter and added a touchdown late in the period to cut the deficit to 21-17, which is how the third quarter ended. Finding an equalizing field goal or a go-ahead touchdown proved more difficult on the Thunderbirds.
Tumwater drove the ball down to the Archbishop Murphy 5-yard line with 3:37 to play in the game, but quarterback Spencer Dowers threw an incompletion on fourth down giving the ball back to the Wildcats.
With the ball and the lead, the Wildcats first priority should have been to run the clock, but mistakes cost them dearly in the waning moments.
Johnson kicked off the Wildcats’ last drive with a 14-yard run, but ran out of bounds with a seemingly open field in front of him. Johnson could have gained more yards, but more importantly running out of bounds stopped the clock and gave Tumwater more life.
The Thunderbirds got the break they needed moments later when they blitzed on an inside handoff to Gurley. Tumwater got through the Wildcats’ offensive line almost immediately and knocked the ball loose from Gurley right after the exchange from the quarterback. The fumble was forced by Cade Otton and recovered by Devon Shedd-Kirkland.
“They sold out,” Jensen said. “It was a great play by their linebacker. We’ve got to protect that better. We had the game right there. All we had to do is run out the clock.”
It was the Wildcats’ third lost fumble of the game to go along with several costly penalties.
“We had our opportunities, but we put the ball on the ground,” Jensen said. “We tried to get a little bit too conservative, probably. Tumwater made some adjustments at halftime and defensively. There were plays that we had out there, we just didn’t make them in the second half.”
Andrews scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 10-yard reception from Dowers with 1:16 to play in the game. The Wildcats moved the ball down to the Tumwater 36-yard line, which is within field goal range of kicker Ryan Henderson, but Johnson took a sack on the game’s final play before Henderson could get his chance.
“We had a chance for a field goal right there and it would have been nice to lineup and see if we could have hit that,” Jensen said. “It was within Ryan’s range. He’s capable of hitting that.”
Johnson finished the game 13-for-18 with 293 yards, but he was sacked five times – none more costly the one on the game’s final play.
“Connor is a good quarterback,” Jensen said. “He’s just going to continue to get better next year. We return a lot of guys.”
The Wildcats may not have won, but they did enough to impress legendary Tumwater head coach Sid Otton.
“They passed the look test,” Otton said. “They’ve got some great-looking athletes that play very well. Our kids just believed in themselves.”
For the Wildcats, Saturday’s heartbreak will have to serve as motivation for next season.
“Our kids played hard,” Jensen said. “Our guys, defensively and offensively, are the same guys. The kids played extremely hard today. They played well enough to win that game. The breaks just didn’t go for us in the second half. We’ll get back and regroup for next year and the boys will remember this for next year.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
At Tacoma Dome
Archbishop Murphy 0 21 0 0 – 21
Tumwater 0 7 10 7 – 24
AM–Bailey Singh-Halpin 32 pass from Connor Johnson (Ryan Henderson kick)
AM–Anfernee Gurley 33 run (Ryan Henderson kick)
T–Noah Andrews 43 run (Nathan Seaman kick)
AM–Connor Johnson 1 run (Ryan Henderson kick)
T–Cade Otton 21 pass from Spencer Dowers (Nathan Seaman kick)
T–Nathan Seaman 29 FG
T–Noah Andrews 10 pass from Spencer Dowers (Nathan Seaman kick)
Records–Archbishop Murphy 12-1. Tumwater 13-0.
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