ATM boys claim league title

Published 9:47 am Friday, February 22, 2008

SNOHOMISH — Now the hard work begins.

The Archbishop Thomas Murphy boys soccer team wrapped up a perfect regular season with a 3-1 victory over Orcas Island in a Northwest A/B League matchup Oct. 31 at Stocker Fields.

Up next for the league champs is a winner-to-state Tri-district playoff game against a yet-to-be determined opponent at 2 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 9) at Edmonds Stadium.

The Wildcats, who finished 13-0 in the league and 16-0 overall, struggled in the first half against the Vikings before scoring a pair of goals in the second half.

“We were kind of disorganized and not playing as a team in the beginning,” said Archbishop Murphy co-captain Nate Feltner. “We stopped talking to each other and we were getting on each other’s cases.”

Andrew Hewitt scored first for the Wildcats off a corner kick from Feltner but Orcas Island tied the score late in the first half.

Archbishop Murphy’s Grant Ferris broke the tie in the 46th minute and brother Alex added an insurance goal later in the second half.

“I thought it was good to have a little bit more competition before the playoffs,” Archbishop Murphy co-captain Nate Carlton said.

The Wildcats were coming off a 12-2 pounding of Snohomish County Christian.

A victory tomorrow afternoon sends the Wildcats into the state tournament, while a loss would send them into the loser’s bracket and a 6 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 12) game at Issaquah High School.

“It’s good Orcas gave us a good challenge today,” said Archbishop Murphy coach Jon Echols. “It definitely got us ready for what we’re going to see next week.”

Archbishop Murphy hasn’t been behind or tied in many of its games this season but the Wildcats have been able to come back when they need to.

“They (players) just showed a tremendous amount of character and heart,” Echols said. “They have a lot of pride in just playing hard.”

The last time Archbishop Murphy went undefeated was during Carlton and Feltner’s freshman season.

“That’s what we were shooting for all season,” Carlton said.

Echols, who is in his first year as coach of the Wildcats, never imagined his team would go undefeated.

“It’s hard to keep up that kind of work effort for 16 games in a row,” he said. “It just kind of demonstrates the character of our team.”

At midseason, the Wildcats reassessed the goals they set at the start of the year.

“As the season went on (being undefeated) became a goal of theirs,” Echols said.

The Wildcats, who play all season on natural grass, planned to practice this week at Kasch Park, which has an artificial surface.

“It’ll be an adjustment,” Echols said. “I think it’s not going to affect us either way. We’ll come and play the same way we’ve been playing all season.”

Archbishop Murphy has plenty to work on during the week, according to Feltner.

“We’re going to have to pick it up at our practices to get back to the level where we were at the beginning of the season,” he said.

Keeping the players sharp will be the primary goal, Echols added.

Playing on artificial turf actually could enhance one of the Wildcats’ biggest strengths — team speed. That and having solid athletes at every position are key reasons for Archbishop Murphy’s success, according to Echols.

“(It) allows us to have an advantage on most teams we play at this level,” he said.

Everyone’s level of play was elevated this season, Feltner said.

“The players that weren’t as good last year got better. And the players that were good got even better,” he said.

Team unity has been another source of strength.

“We just work well together,” Feltner said.