Murphy runs past King’s

Published 10:58 pm Friday, October 21, 2011

SHORELINE — After Archbishop Murphy lost to Lakewood earlier this season, the Wildcats changed their offensive philosophy a bit. Rather than mix things up, Murphy decided to run, then run, and finish things off with the run.

In so doing, Murphy has run its way back into contention for a Casc

ade Conference title.

On Friday, the Wildcats stampeded King’s for 370 yards on the ground and defeated the Knights 35-14 at Woolsey Stadium. The win means Murphy (5-1 Cascade Conference, 7-1 overall) still has an outside chance at a league title. The Wildcats need to beat Sultan next Friday and hope Lakewood stumbles in its game against South Whidbey.

But while Lakewood may earn the crown, it appears that Murphy is the frontrunner, bouncing back from its first-ever Cascade Conference loss (to Lakewood) earlier this season to win three in a row by a combined score of 127-20.

“I don’t think the loss was a fluke,” said Murphy running back Alex Galgano, who had 126 yards on nine carries and a 61-yard TD run on a forward pitch before leaving in the third quarter with a left knee injury. “Our attitude changed a little. It humbled us. It made us realize we had a lot of work to do.”

It also changed the way Murphy attacked on offense. Wildcats coach Dave Ward said his team wanted to be more of a smash-mouth squad.

“Our guys want us to run the ball,” Ward said. “They believe we’re a physical team and we should run first, second and third. We made a commitment since the Lakewood game that we would make teams stop our run.”

So far, no one has been able to do it, including King’s, which defeated Lakewood the week after the Cougars beat Murphy and had a shot Friday of winning the Cascade title. Instead, the Knights (5-2, 6-2) struggled to tackle all night, particularly in the secondary as Murphy had three touchdown runs of at least 60 yards.

“Their strength is passing, and covering the pass,” Ward said. “It’s not tackling. And our strength is running the football.”

Galgano wasted little time showing what his team would do Friday, spinning off a tackle and running down the right sideline 62 yards for a touchdown on Murphy’s second offensive play. Early in the second quarter, the 185-pound junior took a pitch from Hans VanderWel and went 61 yards for another score and a 16-0 Murphy lead. Just before halftime, Galgano added a 9-yard touchdown run and the Wildcats led 22-0 at the break.

“We get our tempo up and it wears them down, it does it to every team,” Galgano said. “That’s what got to them.”

King’s tried to rally behind the passing of junior quarterback Billy Green, who found Erik Brune for a 4-yard touchdown on the Knights’ opening possession of the second half. But Murphy immediately answered when Ricky Gordon went 60 yards on the next offensive play for a 28-6 lead.

The only drama from that point was Galgano’s injury. He was helped off the field after making a run and had ice around his knee, but was walking around unassisted after the game and said he felt fine, but would get it checked out.

Murphy held King’s to just 40 rushing yards on 25 carries and picked Green off twice. Green went 12-for-22 for 198 yards and two touchdowns, including a 71-yarder to Caleb Taylor.

King’s next plays host to Lynden Christian for the No. 2 spot into the Tri-District tournament. Murphy finishes league play with Sultan next week before going on the road for a crossover playoff game against a Northwest League foe.

“We will prepare as hard as we can,” Ward said. “We’ve been a good road team this year and we will travel wherever we have to.”

At Woolsey Stadium

Archbishop Murphy 8 14 6 7 — 35

King’s 0 0 6 8 — 14

A — Alex Galgano 62 run (Hans VanderWel run)

A — Galgano 61 pass from VanderWel (VanderWel run)

A — Galgano 9 run (run failed)

K — Erik Brune 4 pass from Billy Green (run failed)

A — Ricky Gordon 60 run (run failed)

A — Eneliko Tevaga 21 run (Mark Schireman kick)

K — Caleb Taylor 71 pass from Green (Caleb Taylor pass from Green)