The Wildcats will play for the title for the first time since 2011 after scoring on their first seven drives in a 52-14 win over Lynden.
EVERETT — The Archbishop Murphy football team continued its dominance this season with a 52-14 victory over Lynden in a Class 2A state semifinal game Saturday afternoon at Everett Memorial Stadium.
The victory puts the Wildcats in the state-title game for the first time since 2011 — when Archbishop Murphy fell to Lynden 17-16. This time, the Wildcats will face Liberty (12-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Tacoma Dome.
“That’s the goal at the beginning of the year,” Archbishop Murphy coach Jerry Jensen said. “We’ve got one more to go out and try to find a way to win. It’s a good feeling, but the goal is to win the state championship. … We’ll get to studying (our next opponent) and see what we need to do next week.”
The semifinal was never really in doubt for Archbishop Murphy (13-0), which started the game with a 21-0 lead. Lynden (11-2) got on the scoreboard in the second quarter on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Hommes to Rylan Severson to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 21-7.
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That’s as close as the Lions would get.
Archbishop Murphy scored touchdowns on its first seven drives before Ryan Henderson booted a 56-yard field goal with 1:46 left in the game for the contest’s final score.
“It was just a great team win,” Jensen said. “I think the defense played well, the offense played well, that kick at the end that Ryan had was just a great way to end it.”
Archbishop Murphy quarterback Connor Johnson (11 of 12 for 241 yards) threw five touchdown passes and ran for another.
Johnson found Anfernee Gurley for five receptions for 115 yards and two touchdowns and Kyler Gordon added four catches for 89 yards and three scores.
“I can rely on all four of my receivers on the field. Someone will (get) open,” Johnson said. “It feels great. This has been our goal since day one — since losing (to Tumwater) in the semifinals last year. We don’t want to get that feeling again. … Now it’s just time to go get it.”
The Archbishop Murphy defense held Lynden quarterback Jacob Hommes to 14 of 23 for 127 yards passing. The senior added 76 yards rushing on 20 carries.
“It always feels great to go against a team that’s well-coached — they’ve got a lot of good athletes and a lot of good linemen,” Gurley said. “You can really test yourself against them and really see how you match up.”
After an unusual season that saw five teams forfeit games against the Wildcats, Archbishop Murphy is looking to claim its first state title since winning the Class 1A championship in 2003.
Archbishop Murphy is 0-3 in its last three championship games.
“It’s a weird feeling. It seems like we still haven’t played enough games to be where we’re at,” Johnson said.
“It’s just crazy that next week we’re in the Dome, playing for the championship — for something that we wanted since last year. I’m ready to go. I want to play another game right now.”