EVERETT
Members of the Archbishop Murphy football team know that given their No. 1 ranking in the state, their undefeated record and their history as a powerhouse, they’re going to get their opponent’s best effort every time.
But if the Wildcats handle every challenge like they did on Nov. 5, they should be OK.
Archbishop Murphy piled up 500 yards and completely dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage in defeating Sqaulicum 49-25 in a Class 2A district playoff game at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Archbishop Murphy (10-0) advances to play W.F. West in a first-round state playoff game on Nov. 13. Squalicum saw its season end at 5-5.
“We know there’s pressure on us but it just makes us bring our best every game,” Archbishop Murphy senior lineman Julius Tevaga said. “We know that not many people like us but we just come out and play our game every week.”
“Sometimes you feel the pressure and sometimes you don’t,” senior quarterback Austin VanderWel added. “The bigger the game, the more pressure there is. So we expect that next week there will be more pressure.”
Archbishop Murphy put the pressure on Squalicum from the start Friday. Running behind their massive offensive line, the Wildcats used just five running plays to take a 7-0 lead on an Ale Galgano 8-yard run. But while Squalicum was unable to produce any offense, its defense did rise to the occasion for awhile after that, keeping within that one touchdown until late in the second quarter when VanderWel scored on a 12-yard run.
The Storm immediately responded with a 61-yard scoring pass from Tyler Goodrich to Thomas Rawls along the right sideline. But that was the lone highlight for Squalicum until the fourth quarter, but by then the ATM reserves were in and the game was out of hand.
“It’s definitely their size up front,” Squalicum coach Reed Richardson said. “They’re so big, so strong and so fast, and that’s what makes a team that can go deep in the playoffs. Our guys battled but Archbishop Murphy had too much for us today.”
Squalicum managed just 97 yards through the first three quarters against the Archbishop Murphy first team, including just 21 yards on the ground.
“I liked our defensive pressure, our swarming to the ball,” Wildcats coach Dave Ward said. “We really shut down their running game and made them go backwards a lot. Our line was really dominating on both sides of the ball.”
Though no player ran more than nine times or for more than 65 yards, Archbishop Murphy had 323 rushing yards total, completing wearing Squalicum down.
The Wildcats answered Squalicum’s big pass play with a 5-yard Morgan Masanda touchdown run to go into the half up 21-7. They then scored on the opening drive of the second half on another Galgano run for a 21-point lead. The Wildcat defense recovered a fumble on the next drive and put the game out of reach with a Eneliko Tevaga scoring run that made it 35-7. Tevaga scored another touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter.
“Our defense was everywhere and we really just focused on stopping their run,” Tevaga said. “We believe we can do that every time we play.”
“We’re pushing ourselves every week to get better,” Ward added. “We’re not satisfied because our expectations are so high. So we know that each week is a new challenge but I’m happy with the way we responded to this one.”
Mike Allende writes for the Herald in Everett.
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