Burnsville – The Murphy Bulldogs’ 12-game win streak – dating back to the second week of the season on Aug. 30 – came to an end Friday night with a 26-8 loss to Mountain Heritage.
The No. 3 seed Bulldogs traveled to Burnsville to take on undefeated No. 2 seed Mountain Heritage (12-0). The Cougars of Mountain Heritage jumped out to an early first-quarter lead with 12 points.
The Dogs battled back in the second quarter to score eight points. They headed to halftime down by only four.
The score remained the same until the fourth quarter, when the Cougars exploded for 14 more points to cap off their win and advance to the Final Four.
The Cougars will take on Corvian Community School, which defeated No. 1 seed Mount Airy on Friday night.
This season concludes with the Dogs being crowned Smoky Mountain Conference champions, head coach Joseph Watson’s first season with more than 10 wins and 12 straight wins.
Speaking on Friday night’s game, Watson said that they feel that they didn’t play their best, but that the players worked hard.
After the game, Watson’s message to the team was that they’re proud of them and how hard they worked this season, especially the seniors. This was Watson’s first group of seniors that he has coached since they were freshman.
Watson also said that the seniors did a good job setting an example and being leaders this season. He said that they were good teachers to the younger players and that they take pride in the Bulldogs football program.
One of the goals that the seniors had this season was to put a number on the scoreboard, Watson said. The seniors accomplished that goal by winning the SMC.
Murphy High School Football wrote on Facebook, “Thank you, Murphy. Last night didn’t go the way we had hoped, but it’s still a great day to be a Dog. Thank you to our seniors, fans, parents, coaches and everyone behind the scenes who made this Elite 8 run possible.”
They continued by writing, “Not a bad year for a team that was supposed to finish third in conference.”
This was the final high school football game for seniors Kenyon Nichols, Will Shore, Adam Cook, Jonah Hedden, Chandler Nernes, Kadence Leatherwood, Charlie Graves, Waylon Spivey and Carson Phillips.
The Bulldogs’ student-athletes will transition to their respective winter sports.