Murphy – As Commerce’s Jacari Huff slipped his way through a few tackles to a 29-yard touchdown in the second quarter, a Tigers player shouted “all night.”
Unfortunately for Bulldogs fans, he was right. Commerce only led 21-13 then, though it might’ve already been a blowout if not for fumbles on the Tigers’ first two drives. Murphy could not stop Commerce’s triple option offense, with the Tigers rolling up 533 yards without throwing a single pass in a 56-13 beatdown of the Bulldogs.
“I don’t want to say they did a little bit everything better than we did,” Murphy head coach Joseph Watson said. “But that’s kind of just what happened (as) the game went on.”
Commerce (2-0 overall) dominated up front on both sides of the ball, and Murphy (1-1) struggled with tackling on defense. Junior Jaiden Daniels led the way with 207 yards and two touchdowns on just 10 carries, while fellow junior Tysean Wiggins ran for 193 yards and three touchdowns on nine carries. The Bulldogs kept trying different personnel, but couldn’t find an answer.
“You try to get a lot of people in there to stop them,” Watson said. “And you miss a tackle and it’s to the house.”
There were encouraging signs early, as Hunter Stalcup punched the ball from the 5-foot-8, 200 pound Wiggins on the opening drive, with Trenton Russell recovering at the Commerce 49-yard line. Despite not playing at 100 percent, Stalcup ended the drive with a five-yard touchdown to open the scoring with 8:50 to go in the first quarter. The Tigers started to put a drive together, gashing the Murphy defense for 55 yards to the Bulldogs 17-yard line, before Huff was stripped and Kadence Leatherwood recovered for Murphy.
The Bulldogs went three-and-out, and Wiggins bolted for a 37-yard touchdown on the next play from scrimmage, with Ivy Tolbert’s extra point tying the game at 7 with 3:49 left in the first quarter. Following another punt, it took Commerce one play to score again, with Daniels taking a handoff for a 56-yard touchdown and a 14-7 lead with 1:49 to go in the quarter.
A monster kickoff return by Stalcup set up a 19-yard touchdown pass by Brady Grant to Russell, but Murphy didn’t score again after that.
The Tigers went 75 yards in just seven plays on their next drive, which ended with Huff’s touchdown. Following another Murphy punt, Daniels took a third-and-13 handoff up the Commerce sideline for a 65-yard touchdown. Things only got worse from there. Russell fumbled, and Wiggins took a fullback dive up the middle for a 27-yard touchdown on the next play. Grant then threw interceptions on back-to-back drives, the first coming on fourth-and-5 in Tigers territory. The second he was pressured and Jace Lyle picked it off easily and cruised to another Commerce touchdown.
It looked like the Bulldogs were finally putting together a good drive to start the second half, only for it to stall out at the Tigers 11-yard line due to three red zone penalties. Wiggins ran for an 89-yard touchdown on the next play, Commerce’s fourth one play drive of the night.
After the game Watson told his team, the next two weeks are going to define Murphy’s season. The Bulldogs have a bye week this week before hosting Smoky Mountain (1-1) on Sept. 8. The Mustangs are still trying to adjust after quarterback Jed West transferred to Tuscola in July, beating Cherokee 34-13 and losing to Swain County 14-10 to open the season. However they still have one of the best athletes in western North Carolina in East Carolina commit Da’Mare Williams, a senior wide receiver/defensive back.
A week after the Bulldogs dominated a slow Franklin team, they had no answer for a Georgia High School Association Class A team that was physical and had speed. Things will likely improve, though the question is will it be enough to get things back on track.
“We just have to go back to work and correct a lot of mistakes,” Watson said. “I think this group of kids, it’s a great group of kids. They just kind of had a little snowball effect on us and we can’t let that happen.”