Murphy – After a deadlocked first half, the Murphy varsity football team broke through and earned the win to be crowned 2A West Regional champions.
With the win – their 10th in a row – the Bulldogs are heading to the state 2A championship game.
“It feels great,” Murphy quarterback Brady Grant said. “We played together as a team.
“First half, we started off a little slow, then we put it in our heads that if we lose, we aren’t playing another game, us seniors. We knew we had to give it everything.”
Murphy head coach Joseph Watson said it’s incredible to win the regional championship. He is proud of the players and fellow coaches.
“Today was a grind and, luckily, we were able to pull it out. Defense played great, and we just continue to plug at it, continue to work hard,” he said.
Watson touted the way the defense played Friday night, especially in the third quarter, when they gave up a turnover in their red zone, then shut down Starmount to prevent a touchdown.
Murphy took the muddy field Friday night with one goal in mind – to earn the trip to the state championship for the first time since COVID-19.
Opposite the Bulldogs was No. 2 seeded Starmount. From the start, both the home and away stands were jam-packed and loud.
The Rams won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, meaning the Dogs got the ball first. After making it to midfield, they punted. Starmount got the ball for their first possession, but it came to a screeching half as the Dogs got an interception thanks to Grayson Hall.
The Dogs got the ball back, but had to punt. Starmount was rolling on their second possession, but Murphy’s defense got the stop.
On fourth down early in the second quarter, the Rams set up for a field goal. They missed, and the game remained 0-0.
Both teams punted on their next drives. Late in the second quarter, the Dogs worked their way downfield and set up for a field goal with a few seconds left before halftime. Due to the slick conditions of the muddy field, Murphy missed the attempt.
At halftime, the game was still 0-0. Both teams came out for the second half looking to break through with a trip to the state championship on the line.
Watson’s message to the team at halftime was “go win the game.”
“We just got to keep playing, keep fighting. Those kids take a lot of pride in coming off that hill. Now it’s going to be their last time coming off it after halftime, and reminded them of that and they responded,” he said.
After the Rams punted on their first drive of the second half, the Dogs came barking.
Murphy worked its way downfield, and running back Cameron Clem broke through the Rams’ defense and found the end zone for the first score of the game. Kicker Jerry Bui made the extra point, and the Dogs led 7-0 with 7:20 left in the third quarter.
On their next possessions, both teams punted. Starmount got the ball back and fumbled on its first play. However, when the Dogs got the ball back, they also fumbled.
Neither team could capitalize, and Starmount punted to start the fourth quarter. Heading into the final 12 minutes, the Dogs led 7-0.
Murphy failed to get a first down early in the fourth quarter and Starmount got the ball back. On the second play of Starmount’s drive, the Rams fumbled and Murphy recovered the ball on the Starmount 1 yard line.
On the first play after the fumble, Grant found the end zone on a keeper play. Bui made the extra point, but the Dogs led 14-0 with 7:42 remaining.
Down by two possessions, Starmount worked downfield on a mix of passing and rushing plays to the 1 yard line. That’s when Murphy’s defense stepped up in a big way.
Starmount ran a pass play looking for a receiver on the right side of the end zone, but the pass was intercepted by Dalton Farmer to help seal the game for the Bulldogs.
With the ball deep in their end, the Dogs drained the clock and inched toward a trip to the state championship game. They set up to punt on fourth down.
After the ball was snapped, the punter was tackled in the end zone for a safety. That resulted in Starmount’s only points of the game, as the Dogs led 14-2 with 1:20 left.
Despite giving up the safety, the Dogs had drained the clock and didn’t allow Starmount a chance to do anything once they got the ball back.
Starmount then began to work down the field, but the time left on the clock didn’t matter as Ryan Payne got a game-ending interception with 34 seconds left. The play also ended Starmount’s season and helped book Murphy’s ticket to the state 2A championship.
Bulldogs defensive end Camden Breazeale said after the game that at halftime he had to make adjustments on forcing the run to the outside, as well as staying outside on pass routes due to the speed of Starmount’s quarterback.
“We just fixed that, and we critiqued how we played. And, after a little bit, we just fixed what we needed to fix,” he said.
The Bulldogs will head to Moretz Stadium at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory to play in the state 2A championship at 5 p.m. Saturday. Their opponent is the No. 1 seeded team from the East, Tarboro.
Grant’ has a message to the team as they get ready for a week of preparation.
“It’s been a while, we’re finally here. We’ve been working this from summer workouts all the way to here in December,” he said.
“We can’t give up now. We got one more game, we’re just going to keep fighting.
Breazeale’s message to his fellow defenders is to “go ball.”
“Just go ball, no matter if you’ve got pancaked, if you missed your block or just whatever, go ball. If you can get that ball, get it,” he said.
Saturday in Hickory will be a battle of the No. 1 seeds. The Dogs will face a Tarboro team that will be playing in its ninth consecutive state championship game, winning five. The latest was last season, when the Rams defeated Corvian Community in the state 1A championship game.
Tarboro has not lost a game since Sept. 26, 2024, when they lost 47-23 to Havelock. Since then, they won out the rest of the 2024 season and are 14-0 this year.
The Bulldogs will look to hand them their first loss in more than a year Saturday evening.