Wildcats grind their way to 28-0 victory

Published 5:41 pm Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Archbishop Murphy is headed back to the 2A state tournament for the second consecutive year after the Wildcats chewed up Mount Baker’s defensive line with a punishing ground game in a 28-0 win in a 2A District 1 playoff game Nov. 6 at Snohomish Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The Wildcats (9-1 overall) battered Mount Baker (5-5) with attrition and superior depth at running back — seven players combined for 46 rushes for 369 yards and three touchdowns.

“We knew we had to come out and play physical to compete and that’s what we did,” said Archbishop Murphy senior running back Alex Martinez, who scored on a 1-yard dive in the second quarter and finished the game with 89 yards on 13 carries.

Martinez also threw an inconsequential interception on a half-back pass with 18 seconds to play in the second quarter.

Perhaps more impressive, and more important to the Wildcats players and coaches, was the defensive shutout.

“I like the shutout (more than the strong running attack), personally, because we’ve been struggling defensively lately, giving up plays that we shouldn’t have and I think we played a really solid game defensively and I’m proud of our team,” Martinez said.

Senior Jacob Clark grabbed two interceptions and the Wildcats defense held Mount Baker to just 137 rushing yards and nine first downs. The Mountaineers were forced to punt five times.

“I was really pleased with the defense,” Archbishop Murphy head coach Dave Ward said. “They didn’t allow any big plays … I think the shutout is a big deal because it gives the defense some pride in a great effort.”

The Mountaineers were without senior starting running back David Kashubin (894 rushing yards, nine touchdowns) due to a sprained ankle suffered in last week’s win over Squalicum. Also out of the lineup was Mount Baker’s starting offensive center with a broken thumb suffered a day earlier in practice, but head coach Ron Lepper didn’t use missing players for an excuse.

“I thought we were in position a couple of times to make some plays and we missed the tackles and they were able to capitalize on that,” Lepper said.

Archbishop Murphy running backs Clark and Blake Torres used their speed to get around the ends for big gains. Clark finished with 77 yards on eight rushes and Torres had 84 yards on eight carries, including two touchdowns.

“We just didn’t get where we needed to be a couple times,” Lepper said of trying to contain Archbishop Murphy’s outside running game.

Torres capped a five-play, 88-yard opening drive with a 33-yard touchdown run for the Wildcats with 5 minutes, 43 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

The speedy 6-foot senior added another score, a 4-yard run, with 8:54 remaining in the third quarter.

Martinez, Archbishop Murphy’s inside runner along with Keola Wilkins (53 rushing yards, four carries), took a lot of the focus in the first half as the Mountaineers tried to contain the Wildcats rushers.

“They were shutting us down in between the tackles on a lot of plays,” said Martinez, whose second quarter touchdown was his 10th of the season. “I was getting a little frustrated because I kept getting stopped, but that opened up our outside plays for our other backs.”

For Mount Baker, running back Levi Wigg had 47 yards on six carries, Nick Jacoby had 30 yards on 13 carries and Kurtis Zender finished with 38 yards on 13 carries. The Mountaineers managed just 3.9 yards per carry, while Archbishop Murphy finished with an average of eight yards per carry.

“I think the confidence is there (heading into the playoffs),” Ward, Archbishop Murphy’s second-year coach said of the Wildcats, who are now 5-1 and outscoring opponents 231-43 in 2A district qualifying games while reaching the state tournament five out of the last six seasons. “We just have to continue to move the momentum in the right direction.”

The Wildcats play against R.A. Long at 1 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 14 at Frank Goddard Stadium in Mukilteo in the first round of the 2A state tournament.