Coupeville handed first loss

A fired up Archbishop Murphy High School football team dedicating the game to their legendary head coach Terry Ennis who had died of cancer two days earlier. Ennis’ spirit was present and Wildcats employed a powerful running game that netted 499 yards in hammering Coupeville 60-22 in the opening Cascade League game for both squads Friday night.

The Wildcats presented a live tree to be planted in memory of Ennis to the Coupeville team prior to the start of the game and once the pleasantries were out of the way, got off to a rip roaring start.

Archbishop Murphy scored 35 points in the first half before the Wolves got on the board when Clay Hughes ran the second half kickoff back for 82 yards and a touchdown.

Hughes was the one bright spot for the Wolves on an otherwise dismal night.

The senior rushed for 92 yards on 11 carries and scored his second touchdown of the game on a 55-yard jaunt with 4:14 left in the third quarter.

“I got a few nice runs and I was pretty tired by the time I got them,” he said. “Coming into this game we thought we could be able to compete. We weren’t expecting something like this. We were really counting on our defensive line and they did a pretty good job for the most part.”

Coupeville traded touchdowns with the Wildcats in the second half, but were unable to overcome the early deficit.

Archbishop Murphy, an Everett team that perennially competes in the state football tournament, racked a whopping 630 yards in total offense and averaged more than 10 yards per play.

“I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun,” Coupeville head coach Ron Bagby said with a wry smile. “Their emotions were running high because of the passing of their head coach and they came out and hit us hard. They took us out of the game and immediately back on our heels.”

The Wildcats had 21 first downs in the game while holding the Wolves to four and didn’t punt the ball all evening long.

“Right now, we’ve got to bounce back and realize that we did that to two teams earlier in the season,” Bagby said. “We’re still fine and we’re okay. We just have to recover, come back and play.”

Coupeville quarterback James Smith hooked up with Gary Manker on a 6-yard scoring pass with 5:20 left in the game to put the final points on the board.

“The bottom line, truly, is that was a much better football team than us,” Bagby said. “They are a 2A school and I’m glad I don’t have to see them again.”

Coupeville returns to action Friday, traveling to Sultan for a 7 p.m. game against the Turks.

Archbishop Murphy 60, Coupeville 22

First quarter

ABM — Henry Woods 6 run (Ian Houts kick) 8:07

ABM — J.D. Melton 27 pass from Patrick Kelly (Houts kick) 4:08

ABM — Melton 42 pass from Kelly (Houts kick) :53

Second quarter

ABM — Alex Martinez 30 run (Houts kick) 6:39

ABM — Russel Stieger 12 run (Kick failed) 2:06

Third quarter

C — Clay Hughes 82 kickoff return (Jason Bagby pass from James Smith) 11:47

ABM — Stieger 24 run (Kick failed) 8:45

ABM — Houts 1 run (Houts kick) 4:30

C — Hughes 55 run (Smith run) 4:14

ABM — Hayden George 15 run (Kick failed) :46

Fourth quarter

ABM — Nathan Wirtz 26 run (Doug Ehlebracht kick) 8:12

C — Gary Manker 6 pass from Smith (Run failed) 5:20

Game stats ABM Coupeville

First downs 21 4

Rushes-yards 50-499 26-86

Passing yards 131 48

Comp-Att 5-5-0 2 5-12-0 1

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties 24-145 2-17

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Archbishop Murphy: Nathan Wirtz 8-124, Henry Woods 14-112, Alex Martinez 5-77, Ian Houts 6-63, Russel Stieger 7-58, Hayden George 6-43, Blake Torres 2-15, Alex McClure 1-7. Coupeville: Clay Hughes 11-92, Steven McDonald 3-17, Justin Adams 4-1, Dillon Hall 1-minus 1, Ben Lawrence 4-minus 4, James Smith 3-minus 19.

PASSING — Archbishop Murphy: Patrick Kelly 5-5-0 2 131. Coupeville: Smith 5-12-0 1 48.

RECEIVING — Archbishop Murphy: J.D. Melton 3-78, Jake Bos 2-53. Coupeville: Gary Manker 2-31, Alex Evans 2-19, McDonald 1-minus 2.

Cascade League standings

Games through Sept. 14

Team League Overall

W L W L

ABM 1-0 3-0

Cedarcrest 1-0 3-0

South Whidbey 1-0 3-0

Sultan 1-0 1-2

Coupeville 0-1 2-1

Granite Falls 0-1 2-1