Murphy Advances to the Third Round of the State Playoff with 59-to-22 Win over Bishop McGuinness

Hunter Stalcup Leads the Bulldogs with Five Touchdowns

By Brandon Stephens

 

(Kernersville) – – The Murphy Bulldogs (9-3, 3-2) are not easily stopped by the Bishop McGuinness Villains (6-6, 4-3) as Senior Running Back Hunter Stalcup gave a clinic on how to rush and score.  Stalcup by rough count carried 10 times for 275 yards of rushing offense and five touchdowns.  That accounts for about a third of the total offense Murphy laid on the Villains.  The Bulldogs carried the ball for 593 yards on 34 carries, which is about 17 yards per carry.  The Bulldogs racked up another 71 yards on three pass plays to run the field almost 7 times or 664 all-purpose offensive yards and 9 touchdowns.  It amounted to quite an efficient offensive night to defeat Bishop McGuinness 59-to-22.

Hunter “Rhinestone Cowboy” Stalcup is not the only highlight for the Bulldogs.  Freshman Cameron Clem carried the ball 7 times for 151 yards and two touchdown.  Clem brought Bulldog fans to their feet with a 79-yard one play touchdown run on Murphy’s second full possession.  Senior Running Back Trenton Russell carried four times for 87 yards and two touchdowns.  Jonah Hedden carried 7 times for 57 yards.  Dalton Farmer rounded out the offensive rushing 6 times for 23 yards.  Brady Grant completed 3 passes for 71 yards and tossed an interception.

The Murphy defense stifled the Bishop McGuinness offense several times with blitzes that resulted in sacks and loss of yards.  The younger Bulldog defenders seemed to stay in the Villains’ offensive backfield. Sophomore Defensive End Camden Breazeale had two solo sacks and Freshman Defensive Tackle Jude Pinkerton had a solo sack.  Bishop McGuinness Junior Quarterback Alex Waterfield had to open up the offense with passing.  The passing game did not go according to plan for the Villains.  On the second possession Waterfield tossed an interception Hunter Stalcup, which resulted in an 80-yard touchdown return.

Some other notable events in this game include a number of holding penalties that held the Murphy Bulldogs back.  There were about a half dozen times Hunter Stalcup broke lose for lengthy carries, including a touchdown, that were negated by holding penalties against Murphy.  The Bulldogs also brought Sophomore Kicker Jerry Bui for his first varsity high school football game.  Bui replaces Senior Will Joyner, who is injured.  Bui hit 5 of 8 point after touchdown field goals and kicked off for the Bulldogs.

The 37-point win for Murphy helps build momentum leading to the third round of the state football playoffs says Hunter Stalcup.

Good blocking and diligent work from the line made the Murphy WORK to get to the end zone easier according to Quarterback Brady Grant.

There are a lot of moments to unpack and build a new game plan for the upcoming next round says Murphy Head Football Coach Joseph Watson.

Murphy will go back on the road to face the Mount Airy Granite Bears (12-0, 6-0).  Mount Airy plays in the Northwest 1-A conference hand handed all of its opponents with sound defeats, shutting out nine of its opponents.  One shutout was Mitchell County Friday night 42-to-nothing.  The Granite Bears have split time between Junior Quarterback Landon Gallimore and Senior Ian Gallimore.  The Junior Gallimore is completing 50 percent of his passes and the Senior Gallimore about 52 percent passing.  The records indicate the two have completed 27 of 52 passing attempts.  Their rushing game is led by Senior Running Back Tyler Mason who has more than 1,300 yards followed by Sophomore Taeshon Martin with about 1,000 yards.  Stay connected to Team FYN Sports for more details on the Murphy game at Mount Airy.

Data for this article is compiled by Team FYN Sports and from MaxPreps.  Photos and video are from Team FYN Sports.

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