EVERETT — Archbishop Murphy football held a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter against Lynden at Terry Ennis Stadium on Friday. Archbishop Murphy would claim the Northwest Conference 2A title with a win, but the team would have to get through an opponent who beat them 7-3 last year before getting revenge with a 10-9 win in the state quarterfinals.
So when Lynden faced third-and-9 from its own 32 on its first offensive drive, it already felt like a potential pivotal moment in the game. Archbishop Murphy applied the rush, and batted the ball up in the air as it left quarterback Lukas Lalji’s hand. It fell right to an Archbishop Murphy defensive lineman, but it hit his hands and fell to the ground. On top of that, a penalty on another part of the play gave Lynden a first down.
In a matter of moments, a potential pick-six turned into a fourth-down, which then turned into a first-down for Lynden. In a matchup between two sides that engaged in a couple of one-possession “bloodbaths” last season, as senior Henry Gabalis referred to them, a turn of events like that could make the difference between winning and losing.
Isaiah Smith made sure that it wouldn’t matter.
On the next play, a Lynden pass attempt once again tipped in the air downfield, and this time Smith pulled it down and dashed down the right sideline for a 55-yard interception return touchdown to make it 14-0 with 6:00 left in the first quarter.
The junior running back/defensive back proceeded to score 48-yard and 97-yard rushing touchdowns in the second quarter as part of an offensive onslaught to give the Wildcats (7-0, 7-0 league) a 42-0 halftime lead, which ended in a 56-0 win against the Lions (5-2, 3-2).
“I was just thinking, ‘We got to make a play on defense,’” Smith said about his mindset before the pick-six. “’We got to change the momentum right there and get the ball back.’ So I just took the opportunity when it was there, and got it. … I feel like it just gave us all the momentum in the game, and it just kept us rolling throughout the game, and it never stopped after that.”
Archbishop Murphy did much of the damage in the first half, building up a comfortable lead to trigger a running clock in the second half and pulling most of their starters midway through the third quarter. Smith had 182 rushing yards and two touchdowns on just nine attempts. Wildcats quarterback Evan Ruiz went 5-for-7 for 147 yards and three touchdowns, and Gabalis hauled in three receptions for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
In addition to Smith’s pick-six on defense, junior Myles Hulse grabbed two interceptions and rumbled for an 80-yard fumble return touchdown in the fourth quarter. On special teams, senior kicker Kyler Phillips went 8-for-8 on extra points, and routinely sent kickoffs into the end zone to prevent returns from the Lions.
As a team, Archbishop Murphy totaled 364 offensive yards in the first half alone, with 222 coming on the ground. Lynden, meanwhile, was held to just 167 first-half yards, with 78 coming on quarterback scrambles from Lalji.
The game was once again a ‘bloodbath.’ Just not quite the same kind as last year.
“This was a different type of bloodbath,” Gabalis echoed, looking out happily to the field in front of him. “The team came together this game. … The passing part of our offense really came through, I felt, in this game. We spread it out more in the first quarter, and I think they were not ready for that. That was a big thing, and I think before the game, we were just, like, all ‘one.’ Just ready to go lay our shoulders into them.”
It took a few plays for the Wildcats offense to get going on their opening drive. Facing third-and-8 after a short rush and an incompletion, Ruiz connected with Gabalis for a 31-yard gain down the middle of the field. After a couple more gains on the ground, sophomore Cole Sievers got wide open down the right hash for a 32-yard touchdown reception to give Archbishop Murphy a 7-0 lead just three minutes in.
Smith took his interception to the house on the next drive, and the Wildcats forced a punt before putting together another quick touchdown drive capped by a 48-yard touchdown catch from Gabalis, who created separation after Ruiz faked a handoff. With 2:23 left in the first quarter, Archbishop Murphy had cruised to a 21-0 lead.
“I think confidence, being a year older,” Wildcats coach Joe Cronin said about the stark difference between Friday’s matchup and last year. “Being a year older, a lot of experience back. Confidence, league title on the line. These guys wanted the league title, so all of that put together.”
After another Lynden punt led into the end of the first, Smith took the first play in the second quarter 48 yards to the house, and the Wildcats took advantage of a short field on their next drive after forcing a three-and-out, with Gabalis ‘mossing’ a defender in the back corner of the end zone to make it 35-0 on a 13-yard touchdown reception with 7:07 left in the half.
Lynden finally started to push back, driving 79 yards down the field to reach the goal line after junior Gordy Bedlington fell just short of the end zone on a seven-yard slant to set up the Lions with fourth-and-goal on the one. Lalji kept it on a keeper, but the Archbishop Murphy front stuffed him to force a turnover on downs and preserve the shutout.
Smith gained a couple yards on the next play before breaking tackles and finding daylight around midfield, getting supported by blockers on the way to the end zone to make it 42-0 with a 97-yard scamper.
“Our O-line just had a great game,” Smith said. “They had all their blocking assignments perfect, and it’s all them.”
The Wildcats made a second goal-line stop on Lynden’s next drive, benefitting from a dropped pass in the end zone before junior Javen Latta executed a clean pass breakup to set up another fourth-and-goal on the one, where the defensive front stuffed another rush attempt to force the turnover on downs with eight seconds left before halftime.
“On defense, our box played extremely well,” Cronin said. “Stopped the run game, I mean, they stepped up to the occasion. That’s a physical football team (from Lynden), they want to run the ball. But offensively, we got on our blocks, we stayed on our blocks and got downhill, got our feet moving, and our backs ran hard.”
Archbishop Murphy picked up right where it left off after the break, forcing another turnover on downs to open the third quarter before a 23-yard reception from senior Jack Sievers down the left sideline set up a 13-yard rushing touchdown from sophomore Ryder Sandstrom to make it 49-0.
Hulse grabbed his first interception of the night on the next drive, and the Wildcats second-strings proceeded to bleed the clock out entering the fourth quarter, where Hulse later stalled a 70-plus yard drive from Lynden with his long fumble return touchdown, then grabbed his second pick to let the offense come back on the field to run out the clock. The Wildcats not only held on to the shutout, but proved their depth in the process.
“It kind of shows how much work we’ve actually put in to each other,” Hulse said. “And how much we care, and how much we built as a family together and a community, and just how much we want to win and how much we want it. Where we came from (winless in 2022) and where we are now, it’s a big, huge difference. We’re just all a big family, and we want it.”
The Wildcats have a bye week before closing out the regular season against Sehome on Oct. 31. Cronin urged his team to keep the momentum going in his postgame speech, and Archbishop Murphy now has their eyes on bigger prizes with the league title already in hand.
“We’re a team that can compete in the state championship,” Gabalis said. “I think we’re all ready for this ring that we want. That we always wanted.”
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