Murphy – It was cold, it was wet, the field had turned into a mud pit after a downpour in the first half, but the Murphy Bulldogs were having fun in a 43-6 win.
After a slow start in the pouring rain against the Rosman Tigers, Murphy found its rhythm in the second quarter, jump-started by none other than senior running back Devonte Murray.
With just over three minutes remaining in the first half Friday night and the score knotted at 0-0, Murray took the handoff and scampered 59 yards into the end zone for Murphy’s first score of the game.
On the Bulldogs’ next possession, after a defensive stop powered by seniors Colby Stalcup and Bailey McTaggart, Murray once again escaped from the Tigers and found his way into the end zone for a 42-yard scoring run and 15-0 lead.
“I knew if any of the backs would break free, that would set the tempo,” Murray said of his two second-quarter runs that broke Murphy’s drought. “And that’s what happened. After I got free for that first touchdown, it set the tempo for the game, and we just kept pounding.”
When Murphy emerged from the locker room after halftime, the rain had stopped. But the field, chewed up from all of the rain and cleating of the players, had turned into a slippery surface of mud.
That didn’t stop the Bulldogs from resuming their strong start to the half, as Murray once again broke free and rushed in his third touchdown of the contest.
It would then be senior Justice Dorsey’s turn to burn the Tigers, as he took a handoff 52-yards to the house, extending the Dogs’ lead to 36-0 midway through the third quarter.
Murray, refusing to be out-done by Dorsey’s long run, then ripped off a blazing 71-yard touchdown sprint that capped off his insane night of 303 rushing yards and four touchdowns on just 10 carries.
“He’s done a great job,” Murphy coach David Gentry said of Murray’s performance. “And I was glad to see Justice get off those couple of runs. The rest of the seniors played well too.”
“‘We were just trying to have fun,” Murray said covered in mud after the game. “Senior Night is always something special and we just wanted to have fun with it. We know we’re getting close to the end so we’re trying to make the best out of it.”
Junior Ray Rathburn added a score to end the third that extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 43-0.
“I liked from about four minutes to go in the second quarter to the end of the third quarter,” Gentry said after the game. “You take that time and I think we scored 43 points in about 14 minutes, so I’ll take that.”
Headed to Cherokee
The Bulldogs now head to Cherokee to take on the Braves (2-8) in their second-to-last game of the regular season.
With the season finale looming against the conference-leading Robbinsville Black Knights, Coach Gentry wants the team to continue getting better.
“We’ve just gotta get better,” Gentry said after the win against Rosman. “We’ve gotta get our offensive line better and do a better job of blocking. When we didn’t gain yardage, it was usually because we missed blocks.”