Bulldogs exorcise 14 years worth of demons in Bryson City

    Bryson City – Trailing by one point against the undefeated Swain County Maroon Devils, the Murphy Bulldogs lined up to kick an extra point with 1:10 remaining in the game.
    Murphy’s linemen smacked down on their pads as they squatted into blocking position and the Maroon Devils bit, jumping offsides before the ball could be snapped.
    Before the flag had even bounced on the turf, Murphy head coach David Gentry was in the process of sending his offensive unit back onto the field.
    The Bulldogs wanted the win.
    “That was not a hard decision for me,” Gentry said with a smile on his face. “You’ve got probably one of the best offensive linemen in the nation, and you’ve got a player like Devonte. Easy decision, isn’t it?”
    Running back Devonte Murray took the handoff and followed offensive lineman Yousef Mugharbil, punching the ball into the end zone and giving Murphy the final lead in a crucial 15-14 win.
    “When he called the play, the only thing I was thinking was not to fumble,” Murray said of his mindset when Gentry put the ball in his hands with the game on the line. “I have a great line, and I knew they were going to get me that one yard and those two points.”
    The play that got the Bulldogs into the end zone in the first place, a 6-yard dime from quarterback Kellen Rumfelt towing back Justice Dorsey, hadn’t even been the play that Murphy was intending to run.
    When Murphy lined up on the 6-yard line, Swain called a timeout after scouting out the offensive personnel the Bulldogs trotted out onto the field.
    So Rumfelt and Dorsey talked it the huddle and switched up the route Dorsey was going to run.
    “We had lined up, and they took a timeout so they knew we were going to pass it,” Dorsey said of the game-winning touchdown. “So Kellen and I went out and changed the route there in the middle of the play, and it worked out for us.”
    Murphy’s defense dominated Swain’s veer offense throughout the night, downing the Maroon Devils in the backfield time and time again.
    The Bulldogs finished with a whopping seven sacks on the night, including two from Colby Stalcup and Parker Posey, Bailey McTaggart, Will Johnson, Chandler Wood and Dallas Rayburn taking home one apiece.
    “We were really excited because we know when we play Swain we always follow our keys really well,” Rayburn said of sticking to assignments against a tough veer offense. “We usually just stop them.”
     And for the first time since 2005, the Bulldogs rode back through the Gorge with a victory, one that happened to be even more historic with Gentry’s record-breaking 413th coaching win falling on the same game.
    “It’s just been the best rivalry since I’ve been here,” Gentry said of the record-breaking win against Swain. “So to beat your rival, at their place, that was probably as good as it gets.”