Archbishop Murphy dethrones King’s with 49-7 win

Published 11:08 pm Friday, October 23, 2015

SHORELINE — Kerry Jackson had 21 carries and 214 yards rushing for Archbishop Murphy. The Wildcats as a team had more than 350 yards on the ground.

But the best move of the night may have came as the clock wound down and Archbishop Murphy head coach Jerry Jensen ducked out of the way of the celebratory water jug dump just in time.

“That was the best move of the night,” Jensen said with a laugh. “I hope somebody got that one on video.”

It was all smiles for Jensen and the Wildcats on Friday night. Led by Jackson, Archbishop Murphy took the lead 25 seconds into the game and never looked back, defeating King’s 49-7 to clinch the Cascade Conference title at Woolsey Stadium.

“First time I’ve been at the top as a coach so it feels pretty darn good,” said Jensen, who clinched his first league title in his third season at Archbishop Murphy. “You have to get back to the top of your league in order to do what you want to do in the state playoffs. So, that’s going to be our next step.

“We have bigger goals this year.”

The matchup featured two teams ranked in the Associated Press top 10 poll: Archbishop Murphy, No. 6 in 2A, and King’s, the No. 2-ranked team in 1A.

Both teams have the No. 1 seeds locked up for their respective conferences, with Archbishop Murphy clinching the 2A No. 1 seed and King’s the 1A No. 1 spot from the Cascade Conference in the postseason.

Friday night’s game was just for bragging rights.

“This was the ego game,” King’s coach Jim Shapiro said. “Both teams have the No. 1 seeds locked in for their classification. I challenged the kids to be mentally and physically tough and they showed me that they’re mentally and physically tough. Now, physically we were outmanned. Archbishop is a heck of a football team. They’ve got great big linemen, great big backs, they’re the real deal. I think the 2A classification should really watch out for Archbishop Murphy.”

Jackson got the first of his four touchdowns on the first offensive play of the game. The 5-foot-11, 235-pound senior ran 82 yards for a score.

“He’s a big back that runs downhill,” Jensen said. “We were going to try to run it downhill at them. … We felt we could overpower them and we did that. We played a physical game tonight. We have athletes, but we can also run downhill and play power football too.”

Jackson added touchdown runs of 7, 9 and 7 yards in the game.

“I don’t know how big he is, and he runs like that. He’s the real deal,” Shapiro said. “A good-sized line with that in the backfield, they hit us with that all night long.”

The Archbishop Murphy defense allowed just one score in the contest. The Wildcats are allowing an average of 3.25 points per game, with their opponents scoring in just three of Archbishop Murphy’s eight games this season.

“We knew King’s was going to be good,” Jensen said. “I thought we played a little bit sloppy in the first half – we had some opportunities we didn’t execute on. In the second half I thought we cleaned that up a little bit. It was a great opponent to come out here (and face). We played really well and I’m really proud of the kids.”

King’s (5-1, 7-1) got a score on a 1-yard touchdown run by Andrew Cline in the second quarter that pulled the Knights to within seven, 14-7.

But that’s as close as King’s would get in the contest, as Archbishop Murphy piled on the points.

“You learn from it, you flush it, then you move on,” said Shapiro.

The physicality took its toll on King’s, which lost a couple players to injury. Starting quarterback Koa Wilkins, who was playing for the first time since he broke his collarbone in the Knights’ season-opener against Lynden on Sept. 4, stayed on the sidelines icing his shoulder for the second half with King’s trailing.

Running back Caleb Perry, who had 12 carries for 69 yards, injured his ankle in the second half and did not return. Shapiro said he hoped both players would be fine for King’s next game against Cedar Park Christian-Bothell or its playoff opener the following week.

“You knew both teams were going to bring the hit,” Shapiro said. “That’s what you expect when you have two 7-0 teams going for a league championship.”

Shapiro praised senior receiver/defensive back Jake Welch and the King’s linemen for going up against the bigger Archbishop Murphy line.

“When you’re playing a big, physical team like that you, have to man up,” Shapiro said. “They played their hearts out.”

At Woolsey Stadium

A. Murphy 7 14 14 14 —49

King’s 0 7 0 0 —7

AM–Kerry Jackson 82 run (Ryan Henderson kick)

AM–Anfernee Gurley 10 pass from Connor Johnson (Henderson kick)

K–Andrew Cline 1 run (Jack Van Dyke kick)

AM–Jackson 7 run (Henderson kick)

AM–Jackson 9 run (Henderson kick)

AM–Kyler Gordon 23 run (Henderson kick)

AM–Jackson 7 run (Henderson kick)

AM–Ben Hines 28 run (Henderson kick)

Records–Archbishop Murphy 6-0 league, 8-0 overall. King’s 5-1, 7-1.