Are the Hurricanes Tall and Strong – It’s Friday Night and 7:30PM Somewhere

By Brandon Stephens

 

(Murphy) – – The sun is still hot and the ole practice days are movin’ slow like molasses in wintertime.  The coaches are pushing the players to their limit.  Time to see if the Murphy Bulldogs (3-and-1) make the Greenville Hurricanes (2-and-3) go insane.

Friday’s game with Greenville should be the first for Murphy.  The Hurricanes have a few opponents from this season the Bulldogs have faced in the past like Thomas Jefferson and Georgia Force.  Another familiar team includes nearby Towns County (Ga), which resulted in 47-to-6 loss for Greenville a couple of weeks ago.  Other games include Anderson Cavaliers (Loss 0-to-7), Thomas Jefferson (Win 25-to-21), Draughn (Loss 48-to-12), and South Carolina Spartans (Win 46-to-0).

Greenville is like many non-profit organizations giving opportunities to home-school student athletes.  The organization and school are based in Greenville, South Carolina an pull from a nearby footprint for academic and athletic students.

Fast runners, skilled receivers, and good-sized set of linemen make up the mosaic of the spread offense an forty-set defense for the Hurricanes.  Cade Baldwin is the Senior quarterback that has the ability to complete passes and keep the opposing defense on its toes.  Through the last few games, Baldwin has been able to fire a few passes for good forward progress and a touchdown.  A little more protection and Baldwin could spin some hey into gold.

The rushing and receiving Hurricanes to watch are Senior running back Kohl Weisbecker (#27) and Senior receiver Daniel Rowland (#6).  Both players have very good abilities to move and make plays happen.  A lot will depend on the line to open the holes and protect.  Tall and strong?  Based on Maxpreps roster the average height for the Hurricanes is 5’11 and 205 pounds.

Murphy

Murphy is making progress to building its team from the early beginnings with a shaky start with Franklin; closer games with Heard County and West Henderson; to a good performance last Thursday in Sylva against Smoky Mountain.  The plays against Smoky Mountain appear to be well-executed and turnovers reduced or eliminated.  Penalties, like offensive holding, seem to still haunt the Bulldogs at the cost of great plays and touchdowns.  Murphy Senior tight end Kenyon Nichols says persistence to work on mistakes in practice and apply the work to games is making a difference.  Nichols believes the Bulldogs are in a good place this season.

Murphy Junior quarterback Brady Grant echoes what Kenyon Nichols says.  Grant has hit a good completion mark by hitting 50 percent of his passes.  Grant is working with standout Sophomore running back Cameron Clem and Junior receiver Ryan Payne.  Recently, Senior running back Jonah Hedden returned to score a touchdown.  Kadence Leatherwood and Will Shore give the Bulldogs more options and depth.

The first four games of the season has not been light for Murphy.  Score points is a good thing for any winning team.  Stopping the opponent helps you hang banners and get state championships.  Leading the defensive tackling efforts is Kadence Leatherwood with nearly sixty tackles followed by Brody Orton (39), Kenyon Nichols (38), Jude Pinkerton (36), Will Shore (31), and Landon Lape (30).  Those players lead the numbers.  Charlie Graves, Janthony Gooden, and Aayden Williams have made some outstanding defensive stops and nearly scored.  Murphy Head Coach Joseph Watson says there is always work to do, but at this point in the season it’s good to have a team that is building and has worked diligently to earn 3-and-1 as its record this close to the conference portion of the schedule.

Murphy will host Greenville (SC) on Friday night at Bob Hendrix Stadium/David Gentry Field at 7:30PM.  Stay in touch with Team FYN Sports for more details on this game.  Join us for Inside the SMC Thursday night.