King’s miscues spark Wildcats on soggy night

EVERETT

King’s six turnovers gave Archbishop Murphy all it needed to coast to a 46-0 win on a rainy, muddy night Oct. 19 at Terry Ennis Stadium.

The Wildcats (6-0 Cascade Conference, 8-0 overall) scored two early touchdowns off turnovers by King’s (0-6, 0-8). They earned their third shutout of the season and held King’s to 56 yards of total offense.

King’s will try to get its first win of the season against Granite Falls tonight, Friday, Oct. 26, at Shoreline Stadium. The Knights will then play a 1A District 1 playoff game at Lynden Christian at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1.

“Kids are out there with heart, effort, positive attitudes. They’re trying. We teach them to play every play…We’ve had that philosophy ever since I’ve been here,” King’s head coach Jim Shapiro said.

Following a fumbled handoff that was recovered by J.J. Quinlan, the Wildcats embarked on a six-play drive, capped by a 10-yard touchdown run by Henry Woods.

“The defense just started it off. We started the intensity and then the offense brought it,” Quinlan said.

Archbishop Murphy stopped King’s next drive when J.D. Melton intercepted Jeff Mason and returned the ball to the King’s 18.

“That was what we were kind of hoping to do coming in,” Archbishop coach Rick Stubrud said. “Any time you can grab turnovers and capitalize, that changes the game pretty quickly.”

Sophomore Alex Martinez scored on 7-yard run four plays later and the Wildcats took a 14-0 lead after Ian Houts extra point.

“The line was doing great,” Martinez said. “Ryan Bourke, he was out there setting beautiful blocks for me.”

Archbishop Murphy launched an 83-yard, seven-play drive right before the half. A 43-yard run by Martinez and 22-yard pass reception by Jake Bos from Patrick Kelly set the Wildcats up deep in King’s territory. After a holding call on the Wildcats, Martinez threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to J.D. Melton with six seconds left in the half to give Archbishop a 20-0 lead.

Martinez and the Wildcats ran the same play in a playoff win over Hoquiam last year.

In the second half, the Wildcats pulled away as King’s turned the ball over on its first four possessions. Christian Milburn intercepted Mason and scored on a 4-yard run four plays later. King’s lost fumbles on the wet field on its next three possessions, leading to a 10-yard touchdown run by Martinez and 1-yard score by Ian Houts.

“I feel we performed really well, rallying to the ball, knocking the ball out of their hands,” said Martinez, who also plays safety and returns kicks for the Wildcats.

Mishandled handoffs plagued King’s especially inthe second half.

“We’re doing double and triple gives back there and it’s a mesh-point offense and when those points don’t mesh that’s what happens,” King’s coach Jim Shapiro said of the fumbles.

Houts, who finished with 65 yards on eight carries, added a 30-yard touchdown run with a minute left in the game. Martinez rushed six times for a team-high 68 yards.

Woods who had 57 yards on nine carries, limped off the field with a strained medial collateral ligament in his left knee in the third quarter. He is not expected to play in a road game against South Whidbey tonight that will determine the conference championship.

“Hopefully he’ll be able to get back soon,” Stubrud said. “You don’t know about these things.”

The King’s defense stopped the Wildcats on downs and forced them to punt on two first half possessions, and forced a fumble recovered by Matt Chaney in the third quarter.

“They jammed things up, guessed right a few times, took away the trap, dive and lead,” Stubrud said.

“I think those are what we call moral victories when you hold a team like Archbishop,” Shapiro said. “When you make them punt or turn the ball over on downs it shows you that kids are in the right place doing the right thing.”

The Wildcats were penalized nine times for 73 yards while King’s was whistled six times for 56 yards.

Archbishop Murphy, who has won the Cascade Conference title since the league was formed in 2004, will go for title number four against South Whidbey tonight.