Wildcats have fond memories

TACOMA – Few ever get to do something like this. Few ever get to play on back-to-back state championship football teams.

Fewer still ever get to play on a team that wins 39 straight games.

And so after the Archbishop Murphy players, who lost to East Valley of Yakima 41-35 in double overtime in the Class 2A state semifinals Saturday at the Tacoma Dome, have a few days to heal their minds and bodies, they’ll realize that as much as the loss hurts, they have special memories that’ll last a lifetime.

Special friends, too.

Someday they may look back on this time and say what teammate Nick Pettinger said after Saturday’s game: “It’s been the best time of my life. The best part of high school for me was football.”

Many people don’t have 39 special moments during their entire lives, let alone 39 in a row.

Think about it. The Wildcats hadn’t lost since the first game of the 2002 season. They’d notched a pair of Class 1A state championships and were making a bid for a third title in a row, their first at the 2A level.

And then along came a very good East Valley team.

“They feel real bad right now,” coach Terry Ennis said of his Wildcats, “but by tomorrow they’re going to feel OK because I believe they left it all on the field. They’re going to feel like winners tomorrow. They were part of a great game.”

He wasn’t being hyperbolic.

You won’t see a better game in the movies.

One would score and then the other would counter. Back and forth it went.

Five times the score was tied.

Two unbeaten heavyweights slugging it out. Pounding away at one another as if family names had been insulted.

Each of these teams often had opponents crushed by halftime in their march to where they ended up, but neither could bring the other to its knees in the first 48 minutes Saturday, the score at the end of regulation reading 28-all.

Murphy had never seen an opponent like this one, and neither had East Valley.

There must have been some blood shed. There were certainly buckets of sweat left on the field. And in the end, there were tears coursing down the cheeks of some Murphy players.

As much as they had to celebrate, the East Valley players probably didn’t have much energy to whoop it up Saturday night.

The Murphy players were probably early to bed, also. With thoughts of what went wrong running through their heads.

Four lost fumbles for one thing, two of which were turned into something bad.

Unfortunately, both were touchdowns, including the game-winner, a 3-yard run by Michael Stobie in the second overtime.

Asked if he had ever had a team cough up the ball four times, Ennis quipped, “Probably, but it’s not something I chart on my wall.”

He said there were “20 plays you’re going to relive and regret, but take nothing away from East Valley, they made their plays in tough situations.”

One such situation was a fourth-and-goal at the Murphy 7 in the first overtime. Quarterback Ben Reifel (rifle) put it right in the hands of wide receiver Craig Barnes for a 35-28 lead.

Of course, in this tit-for-tat game, Murphy responded with a TD of its own, in a tough situation. Stan Smith took it in n fourth-and-goal from the 1 to tie it at 35.

And to think, early in the game, an East Valley coach had turned to one of his cohorts with the score tied at 7 and said, “If we can stuff them here, we can pound them under.”

Not a chance.

Though they tried, oh, did they try. They tried with Michael Corral, a quick, shifty back who gave the Wildcats fits (97 yards) and Stobie, a big, bruising hunk (167 yards) who gave them welts.

There were plenty of those handed out, by each team. This was not a game for the mild or the meek, as Murphy quarterback Kyle Wilkins can testify.

He took a terrifying helmet-to-helmet hit at the end of the first half and didn’t get off the ground for several minutes.

Bothered by back spasms, he was in for only one play on offense in the second half, and played only part of the second half on defense.

Wilkins won’t crush people with his size (5-10, 167 pounds) but he hurts them with an intense, reckless style of play.

“There’s no other way to play,” he said.

Now there are no more high school games for him, Pettinger and six other Wildcats to play.

Some of the seniors will have today to rest up and then on Monday, they begin basketball practice.

“Basketball is fun,” said Pettinger, who won the game’s sportsmanship award on the Murphy side of the ball, “but I love football.”

He would like to play in college, and has attracted some interest .

Wherever he ends up, he’s not likely to enjoy another run like he’s experienced the last three years.

Thirty-nine straight.

Pretty remarkable.