Murphy holds off Northside-Pinetown for state title
Raleigh – Saturday’s state championship game was typical of Murphy football’s run to a 10th title. No game has been easy. Though the Bulldogs lost some battles on the field, once again they won the war.
When the clock hit zero inside Carter-Finley Stadium at N.C. State University, the score read Murphy 14, Northside-Pinetown 7. It wasn’t pretty, but it didn’t matter. For the 10th time in school history and ninth time under head coach David Gentry, the Bulldogs are state champions.
“It’s probably the ugliest state championship I’ve ever won,” Gentry said. “(But) I’m just proud of the young men, our coaching staff and what they’ve done, and how they pulled this team together, and how they made them into a great football team.”
Every game in this run to another N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A state championship, Murphy has figured out a different way to win.
Against Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, the Bulldogs reeled off four touchdowns of 30 yards or more, then came up with a late interception to seal the win. Against Elkin, Murphy’s Wing-T gashed the Elks, and the defense had a game-sealing turnover in the final minutes. Against Robbinsville, the Bulldogs dominated from the first whistle and never looked back.
Against Northside-Pinetown (8-3), the Bulldogs (10-1) had to rely on quarterback Kellen Rumfelt’s arm. The Panthers sold out to stop Murphy’s run all game, and the Bulldogs finished with just 79 yards on the ground.
When Murphy moved the ball, it was through the air. That statement might as well be a foreign language in the run-first Smoky Mountain Conference.
Rumfelt completed his first six passes and finished 12-15 for 254 yards and a touchdown before leaving in the third quarter with an injury, winning the game’s Most Valuable Player award.
“Their quarterback was so darn good that he was picking us apart, even though the coverage wasn’t terrible,” Northside head coach Keith Boyd said.
Rumfelt set the tone on Murphy’s first drive, hitting Cole Laney for a 17-yard gain to the Northside 44 yard line on third and 10, then finding Ray Rathburn for a 32-yard catch-and-run three plays later. Though the Bulldogs would finish the drive with four straight runs and a Ty Laney two-yard touchdown run, they continued to pick up most of their yards through the air.
Rumfelt rarely had a clean pocket, but was able to move around and find open receivers. Junior Payton McCracken returned to the field after only being able to hold last week and missing the three games before that with a torn meniscus. He gave Murphy’s offense a new dimension it desperately needed in this game, catching five passes for 113 yards on his way to being named Most Outstanding Offensive Player.
“We were all very surprised but very happy when Payton was able to return,” senior offensive lineman Yousef Mugharbil said. “He’s our best receiver and is always able to make plays happen.”
Mugharbil could have opted out this season after already being awarded a scholarship to the University of Florida, but he came back for just such a moment.
Rumfelt’s best play came in the second quarter, giving the Bulldogs the cushion they needed in the second half. Facing pressure, he scrambled to his left and flung the ball deep down field to Isra Smith, who caught the ball and put the finishing touches on a 55-yard touchdown with 5:45 remaining in the second quarter. With Northside having no real passing game all season, another state championship looked well in hand.
The Panthers, however, didn’t quit. They stopped Murphy on 4th-and-6 at the Northside 27 to start the third quarter. Two plays later, running back James Gorham did what the Murphy coaching staff feared he could do.
Entering this game averaging 10 yards per carry, he took a sweep down to the right sideline, cut up field and maneuvered around multiple potential Murphy tacklers, leaving the entire Bulldogs defense in his wake on a 73-yard touchdown. With 9:13 remaining in the third quarter, it was a ballgame again.
After picking up a first down, Rumfelt was sacked and lost the ball on the ensuing third down, and his right shoulder was shaken up on the play. Ray Rathburn, who won Most Outstanding Defensive Player, stopped Northside on a 4th and 2 at the Bulldogs 38, but Rumfelt was hit and hurt his shoulder again on the next drive. This time, he wouldn’t return to the game.
With the Bulldogs main source of offense all afternoon sidelined, Murphy’s defense had to stand tall
for the rest of the game. And it did. Northside didn’t cross into Murphy territory again.
“When Kellen got hurt, that definitely hurt us,” Rathburn said. “But coach Gentry, Nelson and Watson were on the sideline telling us keep your composure, you still have the lead, the defense has to win this game for us – and the defense did win this game for us.”
The Bulldogs came close to running down the clock in the fourth quarter, but a Rathburn fumble on the Northside 33-yard line gave the Panthers one last chance.
Penalties on the first two plays drove Northside back, and faced a 4th and 19 at its own 24 with the game on the line. Gorham took the handoff on a sweep to the right side and cut up field for a 15-yard gain, four yards short of the first down.
From there, all Murphy had to do was three plays in victory formation. It wasn’t the Bulldogs’ best game this season, but they did what they had to do to bring another state championship back to western North Carolina.
“People always ask me how are your football players, how good they are and who are some of your best players, but I think I have a real good football team,” Gentry said. “And that’s what it took today – a real good football team.”