Under former head coach Terry Ennis, the Archbishop Murphy football team established the Wing-T offense that helped lead to a decade of Cascade Conference dominance.
Under current head coach Jerry Jensen, who played for Ennis at Cascade and was an assistant coach on his staff at Murphy, the Wildcats’ have gone back to the Wing-T in an attempt to restore that dominance.
Thanks to a bruising offensive line and an assortment of running backs with a variety of skills, the Wildcats have one of the most potent rushing attacks in the state, averaging 357.6 rushing yards per game. It’s a big reason Murphy is 6-2 and already has clinched a playoff berth heading into Thursday’s regular-season finale against Cedarcrest.
“I think they finally bought into the Wing-T system, because it truly is a system,” Jensen said. “If you run the Wing-T, you’re going to get yards.”
Jensen installed the offense midway through the 2013 season after it became apparent the spread offense the Wildcats had been running wasn’t working with their personnel. The team bought into the change, in part, because of the success of previous Murphy teams.
“It’s been here, so it wasn’t a tough sell,” Jensen said. “You’ve got to really sell your quarterback more than anybody because he’s not going to be able to make the throws or the big plays that some (QBs) get to on the other teams.”
When the team made the change, starting quarterback Nolan Rogge was sidelined with a broken leg. When he returned, he had to learn the new offense on the fly.
“When he came to the Wing-T, it was a different style of offense for him and it didn’t feature him as much as he probably would have liked,” Jensen said. “So there were times last year where I think Nolan got frustrated. Throughout the offseason this year we’ve installed some stuff where he’s able to run out of it as well, so he bought in and has done a really good job of running the offense.”
After the change, the Wildcats’ fortunes started to turn. They lost five of their first six games last season, then closed by winning two of their final three.
They’ve built on that success in 2014. In six victories, the Wildcats haven’t scored less than 41 points.
“It comes down to respect,” running back Taylor Gipson said. “Last year, no one respected us, but this year we’ve gained a lot of respect back.”
Gipson, a senior, is Jensne’s “speed back.” Junior Kerry Jackson is more of the power back, and senior Reagan Gordon can do a little bit of everything. Throw in sophomore receiver Anfernee Gurley, who is threat to run in certain situations, and Rogge and the Wildcats have five players who can devastate defenses in different ways.
Jackson leads the team with 638 yards rushing and Gipson isn’t far behind with 585. Gordon has chipped in 385, Rogge has 361 from the quarterback position and Gurley has 298.
“As the season’s gone on, we’re able to kind of feel how each (running) back plays and the speed of the back — and I guess the aggression, too,” senior offensive lineman Mason Bradley said. “We kind of play off of that.”
Bradley doesn’t run the ball, but has been as crucial to the Wildcats piling up yards — and victories — as anyone.
“Mason Bradley is the anchor to our line this year,” Jensen said. “He’s a kid that’s just a pure football player. He loves the game. He plays hard and expects the people next to him to play hard with him. He’s really brought up the level of play across the board.”
And, of course, all good rushers know the running game starts with the offensive line.
“I can only rush for so many yards if the line isn’t blocking, and so far this year they’ve been doing a great job,” Gipson said. “Coach Damian (Holman), our offensive-line coach, stresses to move them against their will. … When I have a chance, I just see Mason, Jackson (Yost), Kody (Coop) and the rest of the line just throwing kids around. I think it’s just a will game. They want it more sometimes.”
The players also credited weekly film sessions with helping them prepare for games and fixing mistakes.
“There’s always room for improvement,” Gipson said. “We can have a really good game and then watch film and there’s always something else we can do to get better.”
According to junior fullback RJ Ma’ae, the film sessions have taught the players exactly what the coaching staff expects of them.
“Every little detail we (watch) on film, we’ve got to do it right and get it perfect,” he said. “That’s what (Jensen) expects from us.
“Perfection.”
The Wildcats have learned as much from their two defeats, an 18-17 heartbreaker to Lakewood in Week 2 and a 17-7 decision to King’s in Week 8, as they have their six victories. Both losses have showed the players that while the program is on its way back, they haven’t completely shaken off last year’s 3-6 record just yet.
“I’d say we have a top-five team in 2A, but the difference in 2A between a team like Lynden and us is that sometimes when we play teams that have been together for a long time, we sometimes don’t execute,” Jackson said.
Jensen agrees, saying there isn’t much difference between playing Cedarcrest on Friday for the final 2A playoff spot from the Cascade Conference and potentially being league champions.
“I think those two games, they learned a lot from them,” Jensen said. “I always say there are three plays in every game that will determine the outcome of it. Against King’s we let a deep ball over the top and we fumbled the ball in the fourth quarter. You can’t win games that way. The same with Lakewood, we had our chances there too. You take away six plays and have them go the other way and we’re undefeated.”
If the Wildcats have to win tonight or their season is over. It’s a daunting task for a team just a year removed from one of the worst seasons in the history of the program, but the players insist they are ready for tonight’s challenge.
“It’s nerve-racking, but I still trust and have faith that we’re going to go out there and do what we do at the best of our ability,” Bradley said.
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com
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