Commerce, Ga. – After Will Johnson recovered a fumble at the Murphy 36-yard line with 1:56 to go against Commerce, all the Bulldogs had to do was get a first down to seal a 15-14 win. However, the Tigers’ defense held strong, setting up a fourth and 3 with under a minute to go.
Murphy’s offense came out on the field before head coach Joseph Watson called timeout to talk things over. After the timeout, senior quarterback Cole Laney used a hard count, and Commerce’s Colton Hill fell for it, jumping offsides to seal Murphy’s first win of the season Friday night.
Against Franklin, Watson praised his team’s effort despite the loss. This week, that effort – along with some needed adjustments – was enough.
“It was a battle the entire game,” Watson said. “Obviously we didn’t have it in hand until the last drive. Really proud of the way they fought, the way they came back and took advantage of their opportunities.”
Both teams entered week 2 coming off different week 1 results. The Tigers were riding high after a road win at South Carolina’s Southside Christian Academy, which hadn’t lost since November 2019. The Bulldogs were coming off a 24-7 loss to Franklin in which they couldn’t stop the Panthers’ power-run game.
That served as a wake-up call to the coaching staff, Watson said, who knew the team needed to be in better shape and put players in better situations. Murphy changed up their personnel on both the offensive and defensive lines against Commerce.
On the offensive line, the Bulldogs stuck with the same group of five instead of rotating players like they did against Franklin. On defense, Murphy relied on junior Ricky Queen and another bigger lineman to clog the middle, allowing its defensive ends and linebacker Kadence Leatherwood to play fast to the ball.
Murphy ran for 248 yards compared to 96. Even though Commerce had a few long runs, the Bulldogs’ defense never let them get into a rhythm and came up with key stops.
“We made some adjustments to maximize who we have and where they could play, maximize their position and not to make them play as many plays as they did in Franklin,” Watson said.
Scoring was hard to come by in the first half due to sloppy execution. The Bulldogs stuffed Commerce on fourth and 1 on the Murphy 12 on the Tigers’ first drive, then drove to midfield before Cole Laney was picked off by Cohen Thomason. The Tigers picked up one first down before punting, then both the Bulldogs and Commerce botched fake punts on their next drive.
Murphy looked like it was about to score on its final drive of the half, as Ty Laney burst through the line and almost had a 39-yard touchdown run before having the ball stripped. Commerce took over at its own 3 yard line and went 97 yards right before halftime, with Tysean Wiggins’ 5-yard touchdown run putting the Tigers in front.
It was similar to last week, when Murphy trailed 10-7 at halftime before struggling in the second half.
“I just challenged them, really went after them at halftime about finishing, finishing the drill,” Watson said.
Though the Bulldogs punted to start the second half, their defense stood tall and forced Commerce to do the same. Hunter Stalcup put Murphy on the board on the next drive with a 22-yard run. On the extra point, Cole Laney snapped the ball to his brother Ty, who ran it in for a 2-point conversion and 8-7 lead.
The Tigers had an answer, going 84 yards in 10 plays. Jaiden Daniels’ 4-yard touchdown run gave Commerce a 14-8 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs answered back, as Stalcup scored again on a 1-yard run to tie the game, and Will Joyner’s extra point gave Murphy a 15-14 lead with 7:48 to go.
After not getting a stop in the second half last week, the Bulldogs’ defense got the two it needed to seal a win.
“We have some kids that will fight you, kids that will come back,” Watson said. “And we had a little more mental toughness than we had last week.”