TACOMA – When the Archbishop Murphy High School football team shuts out an opponent, the Wildcats celebrate with a bagel party.
Little did they know they’d be breaking out the cream cheese the morning after the Class 1A state championship game.
The Archbishop Murphy defense put an emphatic bagel up on the scoreboard Saturday afternoon, shutting out the high-powered Zillah Leopards 20-0 at the Tacoma Dome.
“It’s a great feeling to get that bagel,” sophomore defensive back Stan Smith said. “We’re going to be eating bagels in the morning sometime soon.”
The Wildcats completed their quest for a second consecutive state title, and it was largely due to a defense that held Zillah to 177 yards of total offense. And although the Wildcats came in surrendering a mere 11 points per game, it was just Archbishop Murphy’s second shutout this season.
“I couldn’t have hoped for anything better,” Archbishop Murphy defensive coordinator Jeff Schmidt said. “We were thinking 14 points, they got a shutout, and it was awesome. Even the JVs in that last drive, they believed in what the varsity kids did and they didn’t want to give up the bagel because of the varsity kids.”
Zillah came into the game with one of the most prolific offenses in the state. The Leopards averaged 46.6 points per game this season and hadn’t scored fewer than 28 in a single contest. Senior running back Shane Stonemetz came into the game with 1,400 yards rushing and 31 touchdowns and senior quarterback Louis Santana had completed 72 percent of his passes for 2,235 yards and 35 TDs.
But none of that meant anything to the Wildcats. Stonemetz finished with 40 yards on 14 carries and Santana completed 13 of 26 passes for 148 yards – much of that yardage coming on Zillah’s final possession after the outcome had already been decided. Archbishop Murphy’s two interceptions – by Smith and senior linebacker Wes Taylor – were twice as many as Santana had thrown all season.
“That was by far the best defense we saw this year,” Stonemetz said. “We’re so used to putting up 40 points per game. When you shut us down it means you’re playing good defense.”
With Taylor (seven tackles, four assists) leading the way, the Wildcats executed their defensive gameplan to perfection.
“We wanted to contain, and then lay as many good hits on them as possible,” Schmidt said. “We wanted to try to change their attitude about what they can do and what they can’t do. We took them out of certain sets, which made them do some other stuff, and once they did that we were able to adjust and the kids just kept coming at them. They didn’t take a play off and they saw the reward of it.”
The Archbishop Murphy defense was strongest when it was most necessary. Three times the Leopards penetrated inside the Wildcat 40-yard line in the first half, and all three times Archbishop Murphy came up with turnovers.
First, with the game scoreless late in the first quarter, a sack by senior defensive end Jeff Arkell – who terrorized Santana the entire game – forced a fumble, which was recovered by senior defensive tackle David Burdick at the Wildcat 42-yard line.
Then, on the first play of the second quarter and Archbishop Murphy leading 7-0, Smith intercepted a pass at the 5-yard line to thwart another Zillah drive.
Finally, with the score 14-0 late in the second quarter, the Wildcats tipped a pass at the line of scrimmage and Taylor came down with it at the 21 for his second interception in two weeks.
“Coach (Schmidt) always says that when they’re in our red zone, don’t let them do it,” Taylor said. “That comes down to each and every player, that we have to step it up and tell ourselves that we’re not going to let this. We want that zero, we want that bagel and we have to tell ourselves that we’re not letting them do it.”
Zillah never threatened Archbishop Murphy’s No. 1 defense in the second half as the Leopards never penetrated past their own 35.
“Most of our defense is seniors and knowing it was our last game we came out fired up,” Arkell said. “We had to prove a point because previous games in the season we got no credit for our defense. Coach Schmidt really wanted us to show those teams that we can actually play defense. I think we proved that tonight.”
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