EVERETT — In its seven years of existence, the Archbishop Murphy football team has found many of its leaders and most experienced players in the backfield.
Individuals such as running back Jevon Butler and quarterback Kyle Wilkins not only were the standout players but also the players the rest of the team rallied around.
In 2005, senior running backs Stan Smith and Shiloh Keo helped lead Archbishop Murphy into the Class 2A state championship game where Pullman edged the Wildcats 28-24.
Smith and Keo’s departures along with the graduation of 16 other seniors have left a huge vacuum that the Wildcats are only beginning to fill.
“We are very, very young,” Wildcats head coach Terry Ennis said. “Last year we were kind of a senior-oriented team, who had a lot of varsity experience. So now we have new seniors with limited varsity experience and a lot of younger kids pushing for starting positions.”
The experience Archbishop Murphy does have is concentrated in the offensive line, which returns three players who saw significant varsity action in 2005 — tight end Ryan Bourke and tackles David Sinex and Joey Duncan.
“I think right now the real stability is in our offensive line,” Ennis said. “Those three kids played regularly on offense last year.”
Sinex sees this season as an opportunity for the younger players to assert themselves and that’s exactly what he’s seeing from his teammates, especially on offense.
The younger players’ skills are matched by their enthusiasm.
“We lost so many seniors, so many guys on offense left,” said Sinex, a second-team, all-league lineman said. “I’ve noticed a lot of younger guys coming up ready to play, wanting to be in and wanting to be involved. So that’s been good.”
The offensive line has added some bulk, Sinex added. “We still have the quickness but we have more size this year … I’m excited to see how we do with that.”
Senior John-Paul Blair should give the Wildcats some veteran leadership in the backfield. Blair was a backup last season and saw action until he got mononucleosis toward the end of the season. The illness knocked Blair out of the postseason.
Blair sees the competition for various starting spots as a positive development.
“It’s an opportunity for the guys who played under the seniors last year to really step up and fill the big shoes,” Blair said. “You never come in thinking that one spot is yours or that a certain person is going to play. You have to show up and do what you have to do.”
Ennis acknowledged that the Wildcats aren’t going to be replacing Smith and Keo with two players.
“We need to just have a group of running backs,” Ennis said. “There’s no set unit at this time.”
Plenty of individuals are battling for the starting running back positions. The most experienced candidates are senior Tony Houts, senior Nick Snyder and junior Henry Woods. Senior Dejan Sughrim is back after taking last year off. Newcomers who are making a push include sophomore Russel Stiegler and freshmen Brad Gee and Alex Martinez.
Sinex likes what he’s seen from the group, though he admitted the backfield will be quite a change from a year ago.
“It won’t be the explosive power that Stan had or the quickness Shiloh had, but we’ll definitely still have a running game,” Sinex said.
Houts, who also is the team’s long snapper, accumulated the most yards of any of the returning running backs. He ran behind Smith and will work to emulate the all-league running back’s work habits.
“I watched him make his cuts. He went hard on every play,” Houts said. “Last year at the end of the season, I said (to Smith) ‘I learned a lot from you … I’m hoping I can fill your shoes.’”
Snyder brings good speed to the backfield. The senior standout is the defending Class 2A state champion in the 110-meter high hurdles. Even though this is only his second year of football, Snyder is expected to be a major contributor.
“He’s a quick guy,” Houts said. “He’s been learning his plays at running back and tailback. He’s a very good blocker too.”
The more experienced players on defense include Snyder (linebacker), Bourke (defensive lineman), Woods (defensive back) and senior linebacker Taylor Metsker.
But like the offense, plenty of new faces figure to make their presence known on defense.
The limited varsity experience has meant that Ennis and his coaching staff have had to scale back some of the schemes. The goal is to be a fundamentally sound team heading into the regular season.
“We’ve pulled back in trying to get a lot of things in,” Ennis said. “We’re just moving at a slower pace … just because we just don’t have that experience.”
Ennis has noticed the underclassmen, especially the sophomore class, have been pushing the juniors and seniors. Ennis’ many years of coaching have taught him that teams generally do not do well with a lot of sophomores out on the field because they are prone to mistakes.
“But we still need the kids who are practicing the best to play,” Ennis said.
Ennis will get his first crack at evaluating all of his players tomorrow morning.
To kick off the season, Archbishop Murphy is one of 10 teams who will be playing in the fourth annual Emerald City Kickoff Classic.
The Wildcats face Orting at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 2 at Qwest Field. Other games are scheduled at noon, 3 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
“We’ll have lots of people getting repetitions throughout the game,” Ennis said. “We need to see as many kids in a true game setting. There’s nothing out here in practice that simulates a game. I don’t know why but it’s like night and day.”
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