SHORELINE — Archbishop Murphy’s Mitchell Lovell scored from 40 yards out in the 19th minute, Matt Williams added a second goal in the 53rd minute and Sam Johnson scored in the 66th minute to give Archbishop Murphy a 3-0 win over Sehome in the 2A District 1 Championship game on Saturday.
“The (Northwest Conference) is extremely strong and we knew that,” Archbishop Murphy coach Mike Bartley said. “They’re battle-tested. For us to come out and put a great performance together, I was really, really pleased. Everybody came to play tonight.”
It’s the first district championship since 2013 for the Wildcats, who fell to Sedro-Woolley 2-1 in last year’s district championship before going on to win the state tournament.
“Three years ago we won (districts), so that’s haunting them a little bit because older brothers (from that team) with younger brothers on this team,” Bartley said. “They’re staying focused and they knew they had an opportunity tonight.”
The Wildcats, who have won 16 games in a row after losing their first game of the season to Camas, will be the No. 1 seed from the district going into the state tournament. They will host a game against North Kitsap early this week.
“The biggest thing about tonight is that we get to host a game,” Bartley said. “We learned from last year, it’s just huge to play at home in front of our fans, our parents, our alumni and Murphy Nation. That’s what they were really playing for.”
Sehome, which suffered its first loss of the season, will travel to Kingston to play the Buccaneers.
The state tournament bracket will be announced Sunday.
At Shoreline Stadium
Goals—Mitchell Lovell (AM); Matt Williams (AM); Sam Johnson (AM). Records—Archbishop Murphy 17-1-0 overall. Sehome 15-1-3.
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