Asheville – Murphy traveled to Asheville for a scrimmage Friday night with AC Reynolds.
After an hour-long weather delay, the scrimmage finally got underway, with the Bulldogs’ offense looking sharp and the defense good at times.
Murphy took the opening drive and was in the end zone via a Brady Grant to Will Shore 22-yard touchdown pass. The Dogs missed the extra point. Reynolds answered the bell with a score of their own seven plays later, connecting on the point after to make the score 7-6.
Murphy would answer quickly, as Cameron Clem busted open an 18-yard run on the first play of the series. Three plays later, Clem broke another run of 19 yards to move the ball to the 3 yard line.
On the next play, Clem hit pay dirt to put Murphy up 12-7 after another missed extra point.
Reynolds had to convert a fourth down with 20 yards to go to keep their drive alive, later scoring to go up 14-12. The Dogs couldn’t score on their next possession, but they were able to keep the Rockets out of their end zone on their next possession.
Murphy made one mistake on its next offensive possession, turning the ball over on a fumble, and Reynolds was back in business. The Rockets scored on their first play to go up 21-12.
Murphy fumbled the ball away again on their next possession. Again the Rockets took advantage of the turnover, scoring to take a 28-12 lead.
Grant put on a passing clinic on the next drive. He hit Ryan Payne for a 10-yard gain and then, while avoiding the Rockets’ rush, hit Kenyon Nichols across the middle for a 18-yard gain. A penalty moved the ball before Shore scored his second TD, this time on the ground.
Coach Joseph Watson pulled his starters for the rest of the scrimmage and looked at his younger players, who are still working on earning playing time this season.
The Dogs held their own in this scrimmage facing not only class 4A competition, but an elite quarterback in Eli Hamrick, who transferred to Reynolds this year from IMG Academy. Hamrick, a junior, already has received multiple offers to play college football, and is ranked as the 24th-best athlete in his class in North Carolina.
“We played against a good group of athletes, and I think we showed that we have a pretty good group of athletes, too,” Watson said after the scrimmage.
“There were some bright spots on the night, but we still have things we need to fix and we will work on that next week before Franklin comes to town.”
The Bulldogs open their regular season against the Franklin Panthers at David Gentry Field in Murphy on Friday, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m.