Raleigh – For the 10th time in school history and ninth time under head coach David Gentry, the Bulldogs are state champions.
Using a strong passing game in the first half and a great defensive performance in the second half, Murphy held off Northside-Pinetown 14-7.
Since coming to Murphy in 1984, Gentry has won 426 games in 37 seasons and nine state titles. Five of those championships have come since 2008, with the Bulldogs last climbing the mountaintop in 2018.
“I’m just very proud of this football team,” Gentry said. “Nobody expected us to win throughout the year, but this team is resilient and I’m just real proud of them.”
Murphy led 14-0 at halftime, mostly on the arm of quarterback Kellen Rumfelt. The Panthers’ defensive game plan was to stop the Bulldogs’ running game, and Rumfelt took advantage. He finished 12-for-15 with 254 yards and a touchdown, and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
While Rumfelt was able to escape the Northside pressure and find open receivers for much of the afternoon, he benefited from having Payton McCracken back on the field. He missed three games with a torn meniscus before returning against Robbinsville next week as a holder only. McCracken was fully cleared this week, and he had five catches for 113 yards on his way to winning Most Outstanding Offensive Player.
After two key third-down conversions on the Bulldogs’ first drive, Ty Laney’s two-yard touchdown gave
Murphy a 6-0 lead with 3:16 remaining in the first half. With 5:52 remaining in the second quarter, Rumfelt hit Isra Smith downfield for a 55-yard score, then found Ty Laney for the two-point conversion and a 14-0 lead.
James Gorham put the Panthers on the board with a 73-yard sprint to the end zone with 9:19 remaining in the third quarter, then Murphy lost its main source of offense when Rumfelt went down with an injury. But the defense, led by Most Outstanding Defensive Player Ray Rathburn, never allowed Northside to get back into Bulldog territory.
“The defense was really the story of the game,” Gentry said. “The first quarter and that long run, that’s all they had.”
Murphy’s state championship continues an impressive run for both the Smoky Mountain Conference and the western region of North Carolina. Smoky Mountain Conference teams have won the last five 1A championships and eight of the last 10. The Bulldogs win also improved Western Regional champions to 15-5 in 1A titles since the state split each classification into two divisions starting in 2001.