TACOMA – Air Wilkins?
Five passes in one game is considered an aerial assault when it comes to Archbishop Murphy football. The Wildcats opened up their offense and quarterback Kyle Wilkins made the decision pay off in the 20-0 victory over Zillah in Saturday’s Class 1A state championship game at the Tacoma Dome.
The junior quarterback made an impact with his arm, legs and body in all facets of the game, helping the Wildcats win their second straight title.
“When Jevon (Butler) is getting them inside, we know Kyle’s going to make a difference outside,” Archbishop Murphy coach Terry Ennis said. “He’s just a real competitive little guy. You saw some of the shots he delivered and some of the shots he took.”
Wilkins, a 5-foot-10, 155-pound left-hander, did not come off the field until the second unit entered with 1:59 remaining. He completed four of five passes for 69 yards. He scored Archbishop Murphy’s first two touchdowns among his 11 carries for 44 yards. He returned a punt and a kickoff, registered his first sack of the year from his strong safety position and leveled Zillah’s Kelly Anderson at his own 3-yard line on a Zillah kickoff return.
Wilkins also kept Archbishop Murphy’s third TD drive alive with a 16-yard run to the outside on fourth-and-1.
Only the number of pass attempts surprised Wilkins.
“I don’t know,” Wilkins said. “It worked, so coach Ennis kept on calling them.”
One of Wilkins’ passes wasn’t pretty. He looked toward receiver Ian Telge, but elected not to throw. When a Zillah lineman tracked him down, he threw the ball into the turf and was penalized for intentional grounding.
He completed two passes on Archbishop Murphy’s first TD drive, including a 24-yard toss to Ben Waiss, who made a spectacular catch on the sideline at the 18-yard line.
“That was all him,” Wilkins said. “I threw up a lame duck and he caught it. Zillah said I was going to throw dying quails, but they seemed to work.”
Wilkins finished his season just one TD shy of a double-double. Wilkins passed for 483 yards and 10 TDs this season. He rushed for 497 yards and nine TDs.
No loose ends: Terry Ennis really wanted to know, but the Murphy didn’t want to jinx it. He realized that he hadn’t recalled his star running back, Jevon Butler, fumbling even once during the two state championship seasons. He was curious, but didn’t dare ask.
“Last year, I realized he hadn’t fumbled, and this year I was pretty sure he hadn’t. I didn’t want to say anything to screw it up. I watched real carefully toward the end. The ball showed a couple of times. … After the game I said, ‘Jevon, I’m not sure, but I don’t think you’ve fumbled in two years. He said, “Nope, I haven’t.’ He knew.”
Nearly 4,000 yards (3,977) have gone by under Butler’s feet during the last two seasons. Not once did the ball end up on the ground.
“I knew it, and I kept saying it every game,” said Butler, who finished his senior season with 206 carries for 1,960 yards and 22 touchdowns. “Everyone was like, ‘Don’t jinx yourself.”
Butler was elated to play in front of his mother, Feneda Butler, who missed last season’s game after having a heart attack. She listened to the 2002 title game on the radio after being released from the hospital that morning. This time, she got to see her son in action.
“This year she’s here, and that’s a big thing,” Butler said.
Master motivator: Leave it to ex-Marine Jeff Schmidt to motivate an Archbishop Murphy defense that proved impenetrable.
“Our defensive coordinator, coach Schmidt, before the game had a pretty meaningful speech to us that got us fired up,” senior defensive end Jeff Arkell said. “It made us come out fired up and hit hard all day, and we came out on top.”
Schmidt invoked the memory of the World War I Battle of Belleau Wood, in which United States Marines overcame the Germans despite being outnumbered.
“It’s a Marine thing,” Schmidt explained. “I just mentioned to them about a little piece of our history, about the battle of Belleau Wood and how the Germans named us Teufelhunden, devil dogs. So we came out like crazed dogs today and they wanted to be a crazed dog team.”
The speech certainly struck a cord with the players.
“CD, crazed dogs,” Stan Smith said, pointing at the letters inked on his arm. “Coach Schmidt talked about crazed dogs and got us all going crazy.”
The catch: Extra effort by Ben Waiss kept Archbishop Murphy’s first TD drive alive. Wilkins lofted his “lame duck” pass toward Waiss, but Zillah linebacker Duran Torrez got a hand on the ball just before it got to Waiss. The ball bounced nearly straight up, and Waiss tipped it once or twice. He caught it just inside the sideline, and nearly tightroped his way to the end zone.
“It was there, so I grabbed it,” the senior running back said matter-of-factly.
Quick slants: Archbishop Murphy became the 19th school to win two straight titles. Ephrata (1987-88) and Raymond, which won three in a row (1973-75), are the only other Class A schools to win two in a row. … The Wildcats became only the second team to score 20 points against Zillah this season, joining Toppenish, which lost 38-20. … Archbishop Murphy is 32-4 in its three seasons of varsity football.
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