Murphy – Bulldogs head football head coach Joseph Watson told his team the same message both before and after the scrimmage against Erwin High School on Friday night.
Stay hungry. Murphy is still going to get every team’s best shot and needs to be ready to compete for all 60 minutes. In the scrimmage against the Warriors, the Bulldogs were sharp early, but lost a bit of focus in the later stages.
“I like the way we came out and played fast at first,” Watson said. “(We) played physical, but we kind of got zapped a little bit. We were a little tired.”
The scrimmage consisted of two parts. In the first part, each team ran through 10 plays three times, starting from their own 30-yard line. If either team scored, committed a turnover or turned the ball over on downs, they moved back to the 30-yard line until the 10 plays were up. The second part featured a 20-minute running clock where teams could work on situational football and other plays they wanted to run.
Murphy dominated the first part, gashing Erwin with its Wing T offense. The Warriors, a 3A school from Asheville, looked like they hadn’t seen the offense before. Chandler Wood and Ty Laney both had long touchdown runs, while Juan Allen and Hunter Stalcup also ripped off big gains.
Cole Laney did well at quarterback as well as he continues to start while Kellen Rumfelt recovers from a shoulder injury, including two nice passes outside the numbers that turned into touchdowns for Allen and Will Johnson. On defense, Murphy was stout against the run but had mixed results against the pass, though the Warriors likely threw more than any team Murphy will see this season.
The Bulldogs played more reserves in the second portion of the scrimmage and weren’t as crisp on either side of the field. Even though the execution slipped, it was a good reminder of what it takes to play a complete football game.
“There’s always room for improvement, especially your first scrimmage,” Watson said. “You want to get that on film, that way you can use it to teach kids what they need to do better.”
Murphy opens up at Franklin High School to begin the season. A longtime non-conference opponent, the Bulldogs have beaten the 2A Panthers three straight years, including a 48-14 win last year. Prior to this winning streak, Murphy hadn’t beaten Franklin since 2008.
“I always thought Franklin is a good team to play because when you play Franklin you know what you got,” Watson said. “You know if you’re going to be good or not after the way you play Franklin because they’re going to be physical, and they’re going to be solid in all facets of the game.”