King’s beats Murphy to wrap up league title

EVERETT — Like any good championship game, it came down to the fourth quarter. And in the fourth quarter Friday night, the King’s Knights prevailed to wrap up the Cascade Conference football title with a 17-7 victory over Archbishop Murphy at Terry Ennis Stadium.

The visiting Knights had three possessions in the final period and each one was pivotal. The first produced a touchdown that broke a 7-7 tie, the second resulted in a field goal for a 10-point margin, and the third allowed King’s to run out the game’s final seconds.

When it was over, the Knights celebrated a conference title that coach Jim Shapiro would not have predicted before the season.

“If you’d asked me (back then) I would’ve said ‘no,’” he said. “I would’ve said that we’re a .500 ballclub. But as they showed up (for preseason workouts) and the guys started working hard, and as we started to jell the last couple of weeks, we’re a championship football team.

“We’ve come a long way in the last eight weeks,” said Shapiro, whose team improved to 6-0 in league and 6-2 overall. “And we’re excited to be the Cascade league champs.”

The Knights got on the scoreboard first, mounting a 10-play, 74-yard drive on their second possession. King’s got a big break on fourth-and-six from the Archbishop Murphy 35 when the Wildcats jumped offsides, and on the next play — this time fourth-and-one — running back Andrew Cline hit a hole on the left side and then bounced outside and was in the clear for a 30-yard touchdown dash on the first play of the second quarter.

The Wildcats answered on their opening possession of the third quarter. Beginning from their own 39 after stopping King’s on downs, they needed 13 plays to reach the end zone. The big play on the march was a darting 28-yard carry by running back Taylor Gipson to the King’s 2.

Archbishop Murphy gained 1 yard on first down and lost 5 yards on second down, but on third-and-goal quarterback Nolan Rogge carried around right end and bulled his way into the end zone for the tying touchdown.

The go-ahead TD came early in the fourth quarter and capped a six-play drive that began at the King’s 10 after a Wildcat punt. On second-and-10 from the Knights’ 42, quarterback Koa Wilkins found receiver Jackson Hand behind the Archbishop Murphy secondary. Hand made the catch at the Archbishop Murphy 25 and ran untouched to the end zone.

The Knights got a huge defensive play moments later when linebacker Laka Wilkins ripped the ball away from the ball carrier and it was caught in midair by King’s defensive lineman Edmund Sundquist. Seven plays later, place-kicker Ryan Fransen booted a 30-yard field goal with 5:11 to play in the game.

Archbishop Murphy got near midfield on its final possession, but the drive ended on downs and King’s was able to run out the game’s final seconds.

“Hats off to Archbishop Murphy,” Shapiro said. “It was a (hard-fought) league championship game and that’s the way it should be. Both teams competed well and we’re proud of our kids for getting the victory.

“Our defense really won that football game for us,” he added. “And the offense made the plays we needed to have to get it done.”

Fransen, who lives in Mill Creek, said the Knights “put in a lot of work in the offseason and it feels great that it’s paid off. … I believed we had the potential (to win a league championship), but I know a lot of people doubted us. But we believed in ourselves and now it’s paid off.”

With Friday’s victory over Archbishop Murphy and an earlier win against Lakewood, King’s has clinched the league crown heading into next week’s regular-season finale against Cedar Park Christian.

At Archbishop Murphy H.S.

King’s 0 7 0 10 — 17

Archbishop Murphy 0 0 7 0 — 7

K—Andrew Cline 30 run (Jack VanDyke kick)

AM—Nolan Rogge 6 run (Ryan Henderson kick)

K—Jackson Hand 58 pass from Koa Wilkins (VanDyke kick)

K—Ryan Fransen 30 FG

Records—Archbishop Murphy 4-2 league, 6-2 overall. King’s 6-0, 6-2.