Archbishop Murphy pounds Lakewood

Published 8:05 pm Thursday, October 14, 2010

Running. Passing. Handing the ball off.

Archbishop Murphy’s Austin VanderWel is used to getting his team into the end zone all sorts of ways. Against Lakewood, the junior quarterback found a new way to put points on the board.

VanderWel fell on a botched Lakewood snap in the end zone for a special teams touchdown and Archbishop Murphy rode a huge first half for a 42-20 Cascade Conference victory Oct. 9 at Dick Cardinal Stadium.

“It’s pretty rare,” Archbishop Murphy head coach Dave Ward said of the play, which occurred when Lakewood attempted to punt from about its own 30-yard line in the second quarter. “He was coming off the outside, the ball sailed overhead, and (Archbishop Murphy senior) Jake Clark knocked it into the end zone.”

VanderWel’s recovery capped off a 28-0 start from which the Wildcats never looked back.

Ward credited his team’s pass coverage for containing Lakewood standout quarterback Justin Lane and allowing the Wildcats to get a big lead early.

“Having sound coverage (was the key) because their QB is real effective,” Ward said. “He throws well. We worked hard on pass coverage, and for the most part had good coverage.”

Lane, a junior, finished 17 of 33 for 251 yards with one touchdown, one interception and one rushing touchdown, but many of those numbers came in the second half, with Lakewood facing a large deficit.

The Archbishop Murphy defense produced nine tackles for a loss and held Lakewood to 25 rushing yards on 25 attempts.

Lakewood was held to just seven points in the first half, coming when Lane rushed for a 1-yard touchdown in the second quarter to make it 28-7 Murphy.

With the defense experiencing a lot of early success, the Archbishop Murphy offense was free to go to work.

“We ran the ball (well),” Ward said of his team, which racked up 347 rushing yards for the game. “We ate up the clock and kept control of the ball.”

Senior Alex Martinez led all rushers with 122 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries. VanderWel (2-for-4, one passing touchdown) added 38 yards on eight carries, with one rushing touchdown. Also in the mix were senior Blake Torres (four carries, 42 yards, one touchdown) and junior Keola Wilkins (eight carries for 68 yards).

Junior Bo Torres added an interception in the fourth quarter to halt Lakewood’s final drive.

“We had an effective game,” Ward said of Murphy’s ability to shut down Lakewood early and control the ball. “We were able to carry out the plan.”

Archbishop Murphy improved to 4-0 in conference (5-1 overall) with the win. With three games remaining in the regular season, Ward for the most part likes what he is seeing from his team.

“I think we’ve improved the last couple weeks as a football team,” Ward said. “I think we’ve improved our defensive pass coverage. (We still) need to improve blocking. The o-line is blocking well, we need (backs) to block better.”

Next up for Archbishop Murphy is a showdown with undefeated Cedarcrest, which is 4-0 in conference and 6-0 overall.

Ward said a key to handing a power running team like Cedarcrest its first loss of the season will be tackling.

“We need to tackle well this week,” Ward said. “(We have) predominately a running team in Cedarcrest. That will be a point of emphasis.”