In the words of Archbishop Thomas Murphy football coach Terry Ennis, the Wildcats’ two and a half hour trip to Cashmere last week was well worth the drive.
Archbishop Murphy won its third straight game, a convincing 41-0 thumping of Omak in a non-conference encounter on Sept. 20.
Senior running back Jevon Butler scored on a 5-yard run in the first quarter to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead. Butler finished the game with 158 yards on 16 carries.
Archbishop Murphy (3-0 overall) then broke open the game with three consecutive touchdowns in the second quarter.
Senior running back Doug VanderWel caught a 47-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Kyle Wilkins and then Wilkins scored on a 34-yard run. Sophomore running back Stan Smith added a 10-yard touchdown run to close out the scoring in the first half.
Six different players ended up scoring touchdowns, which wasn’t how Ennis and his coaching staff drew it up.
“It wasn’t by design. It was the way things worked out,” Ennis said. “When you looked at it afterwards it was an ideal situation.”
The second quarter saw the Archbishop Murphy offense execute the game plan well.
“Sometimes when you move the ball you don’t end up in the end zone,” Ennis said.
Not everything in the game went according to plan, though. The Wildcats fumbled the ball away once and also had an interception.
A couple of play action passes could have gone for long gains but didn’t.
“There’s all kinds of little things that we will work on,” Ennis said. “We saw good improvement in some areas. We just want to keep making strides during practices.”
The highlight of the game was the Wildcats’ defensive effort. The constant repetitions at practice appear to be making a difference out on the field.
“It was our best defensive outing, just because we played as a unit and didn’t give up any big plays,” Ennis said. “There were no breakdowns. It was a real good outing. I told the kids you could kind of see the results of our efforts in practice show up in the game. That doesn’t always happen.
“What we had worked on the kids obviously had been paying attention. It was a good feeling for the improvement we made on defense.”
Up next for Archbishop Murphy is Cascade Christian in a 1 p.m. non-league game tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 27) at Archbishop Murphy High School.
The Wildcats beat the Cougars 42-12 in last year’s Class 1A state semifinals.
Ennis expects both teams will be up for the rematch.
Cascade Christian also has won their first three games and has scored 153 points.
“They throw the ball. They run the ball. They are a real offensive threat,” Ennis said. “They have a wide open offense, which challenges any defense. They are definitely going to spread the field and pass the field a lot.”
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