EVERETT — The Archbishop Murphy football team advanced the the Class 2A state championship game, rolling over Anacortes 59-17 in a state semifinal game on Saturday.
Junior running back Isaiah Smith rushed for 153 of his 157 yards in the first half as the Wildcats built a 38-10 lead over the defending state champions at Goddard Stadium. Senior quarterback Evan Ruiz connected with receiver Henry Gabalis for touchdowns of 75, 37 and 41 yards and finished the game with 205 yards and four TDs on 7-for-15 passing.
It was quite a different story from the 2024 semifinals, when Tumwater blasted Archbishop Murphy 42-0. The Wildcats will get another crack at the Thunderbirds in the state championship game, 3 p.m. Saturday at Husky Stadium.
Tumwater also won its semifinal game in dominant fashion, 42-0 over East Valley (Yakima).
Anacortes tried to catch the Wildcats napping with an onside kick to start the game, but Archbishop Murphy’s Jack Burns fielded at the Wildcats’ 47.
Archbishop Murphy got Smith’s engine started right away, as he carried the ball six times during a 53-yard drive capped by his 21-yard TD run for a 7-0 edge with 7:34 to go in the first quarter.
Anacortes quarterback Ryan Harrington found speedy receiver Luca Moore for a 42-yard gain on the Seahawks’ first possession. But he was called for intentional grounding two plays later as tight end/defensive lineman Jack Sievers took him most of the way down, and that set up a third-and-32 they were unable to convert.
Trailing 7-0, the Seahawks got a third-down stop on a bobbled Archbishop Murphy snap, but were called for unsportsmanlike conduct to extend the drive.
Ruiz made them pay, finding Gabalis wide open for a 75-yard catch and run for a 14-0 lead with 4:24 to go in the first. Gabalis, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound tight end prospect committed to the University of Arizona, finished the game with four catches for 163 yards and three touchdowns.
Archbishop scored a third TD on a wild play that didn’t count. Ruiz threw a pass to Javen Latta, it went off his fingertips and landed in the hands of Sievers, who took it the distance for an apparent 49-yard score. But it was wiped away by a penalty, and the Wildcats eventually punted.
That just delayed the inevitable, however. The Wildcats got a stop, and Anacortes’ 27-yard punt died the Seahawks’ 37. Ruiz found Gabalis wide open for a second time, and the 37-yard TD connection put his team up 21-0 early in the second quarter.
Latta recovered an Anacortes fumble in the second quarter, but the Wildcats returned the favor with a fumble of their own. So, Latta tried a different tactic, this time intercepting a Seahawks’ pass and returning it 37 yards to the Anacortes 13.
On the next play, Ruiz lobbed a pass over the defense and into the soft hands of Sievers, a Michigan commit, for a 28-0 lead with 9:07 to go in the half.
Moore put the Seahawks on the board, though, returning the Archbishop Murphy kickoff 98 yards to cut the deficit to 28-7.
They barely had time to celebrate, as Smith took a handoff on Archbishop Murphy’s first play of the following drive, and ran through a wide-open hole on his way to a 70-yard TD for a 35-7 lead.
The Seahawks used another big return, this time from Zeke Hawkins, to set up a field goal with 6:12 to go in the half.
The Wildcats, led by Smith’s 15 first-half carries for 153 yards, led 38-10 at the break.
Smith finished his afternoon’s work with a 1-yard TD on his 18th carry for a 45-10 advantage.
Archbishop Murphy showed a few holes in its kickoff return unit, but the Seahawks struggled to get much going against the Wildcats’ defense.
Cole Sievers intercepted an Anacortes pass, and Jack Sievers, William Wilson, Tayden Olson and Eli Leyba each recorded at least one sack and a significant amount of time in Anacortes’ backfield.
This story will be updated.
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