TACOMA — Axel Wolff will be credited for just a sliver of Archbishop Thomas Murphy’s record-setting 466 rushing yards in last Saturday’s Class 1A Gridiron Classic.
But while his teammates were scurrying across the Tacoma Dome turf for long-range touchdowns and first-down pickups, the senior quarterback was busy perpetrating a series of fakes that often left Royal’s defense hunting the wrong Wildcats.
A misdirection offense like Archbishop Murphy’s wouldn’t go far without a dazzling decoy. And that’s where Wolff comes in.
“We’ll pound it away with one guy and then we’ll fake it and give it off to another guy,” Wolff said. “When we do it for 10 plays like that and get maybe two or three yards on each play, it usually gives us a chance to bring it outside or bring it the other way.”
Taking almost every snap for the Wildcats the past two seasons, Wolff mastered the art of deception.
“We wanted to add a dimension to the quarterback (position),” Archbishop Murphy coach Terry Ennis said. “(Wolff) really recognized that and worked on his ball handling and faking. It gave us something different in place of the pass.
“We felt our real strength was the faking we did. It allowed us to get players isolated and we ended up with some long runs.”
Wolff’s sleight of hand combined with a mixed bag of sure-footed tailbacks enabled Archbishop Murphy to habitually hoodwink its opponents.
It was no different against unbeaten Royal, a powerful, Eastern Washington team making its fourth appearance in the title game in nine years.
Surpassing 400 rushing yards for the third time in four playoff games, the Wildcats kept the Knights guessing throughout their 35-14 victory with an array of hidden handoffs.
“What I focus on is not necessarily being the fastest guy out there,” Wolff said. “I focus on the faking — that’s the biggest thing I do. Getting that mesh with the fullback, that mesh with the halfbacks is the key to our offense.”
Wolff embellished his usual acting routing as part of a fake punt the Wildcats executed to keep their first scoring drive alive. Facing fourth-and-3 at the Royal 47, Wolff dropped back in punt formation and leapt high off the carpet like the ball was snapped over his head.
Meanwhile, the center hiked the ball to backup quarterback Kyle Wilkins, who pitched it to running back Jevon Butler as he cut around right end for an 11-yard gain. Five plays later, Butler scored Archbishop Murphy’s first TD on a 17-yard burst through the middle.
Wolff and the Wildcats caught the Knights off guard again late in the first half by calling their only pass play of the game following a timeout. While Butler attracted most of Royal’s attention on a play fake, Wolff drifted to his left and lofted a pass to junior split end Ian Telge for a 25-yard touchdown.
The four-minute drive started out with Wolff’s favorite play — a delayed quarterback sneak that has fooled even the best defenses and officials. As bodies from both sides stack up at the line of scrimmage, Wolff hesitates momentarily before sprinting outside where he usually encounters plenty of running room.
“I love that play,” Wolff said. “We just call it a quarterback keeper. Coach says, ‘I don’t want to get too complicated on you guys.’ So we try to keep things simple.”
The Wildcats carry out the fake so smoothly, referees have been known to blow the play dead, not realizing Wolff kept hold of the ball all along.
“That’s happened like three times this year,” he said. “I’ll be running down the sidelines, near the end zone and it gets called back because they ruled the guy down.”
“That’s one of those things where there’s a sense of pride when it happens, although it’s really disruptive,” added Ennis.
One of Archbishop Murphy’s five seniors playing in their final high school game, Wolff also came up with an interception in the waning seconds of the second quarter and batted away two more Royal passes in the second half.
“I think today was just heart,” he said. “Coach Ennis said before the game, ‘You might not be bigger, you might not be faster. But you’ve got heart.’ To win this game, you need heart.”
And a quarterback that leaves the opposition crying Wolff.
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