Murphy Kicks Off Season With 33-6 Win Over Andrews
Murphy Bulldogs, Sports, Team FYN Sports, TeamFYNSports February 26, 2021
Murphy, NC- North Carolina High School football fans finally got to see their teams take the field last night, an act that some thought would never happen this year.
With schedules being changed and seasons getting moved around, there was so much doubt surrounding this season that it seemed like the community was able to breath a sigh of relief as they saw the ball fly through the air on that opening kickoff.
The Bulldogs played host to the Andrews Wildcats in the opening game of both teams seasons.
After a stellar start to the game by the Wildcats, Murphy was able to buckle down in the second half, pulling away from Andrews and winning 33-6.
Game Notes:
Murphy won the toss and elected to kick and thanks to a BIG hit from their special teams unit, they were able to force a fumble and recover the ball on the opening kickoff, giving the Dogs great field position to start the game.
The Andrews Defense came up big and made a goal line stand. On offense the Wildcats drove the ball 98 yards and were able to score the first points of the game on a 22 yard pass from Donovan Bateman to Spencer Bateman.
That would be the only time that the Wildcats were able to find the endzone however, thanks to subsequent scores from Ray Rathburn, John Ledford, Ty Laney and Juan Allen.
Ray Rathburn was the bell cow for the Bulldogs, scoring 2 TD’s and rushing for 90 yards. Juan Allen was right behind Rathburn on the stat sheet, thanks to a 50 yard TD run in the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs were never really able to get anything going through the air, which is something that Head Coach David Gentry said they will have to do going forward when I spoke with him postgame.
The Bulldogs host the Franklin Panthers in their next game on Friday March 5th. You can watch all Murphy home football games LIVE on FYNTV.com, including their bout this coming week against the Panthers.
If you want a sneak peak look into what to expect out of the Franklin Panthers next Friday, tune into FYNTV.com on Monday @ 6:00, as we will be bringing that game to you LIVE also.
Number of Fans Allowed at Football Games Increased to 30%
Sports, Team FYN Sports, TeamFYNSports February 24, 2021
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced today that the cap on fans at sporting events would be increased.
The new order does not go into effect until Friday at 5 P.M. so this Thursdays games will still be under the 100 spectator rule.
Outdoor sports are allowed to have a maximum of 30% of the venues capacity, so even though we wont see stadiums filled, we will see an exponential increase in fans.
Indoor venues are also allowed a maximum of 30% capacity, but that is capped at 250 people no matter if 30% of the venue exceeds that number.
2,000 people is my best guess on what local area stadiums can hold. 30% of 2,000 is 600, so you can bounce that number around in your head when considering about how many fans will be allowed inside games.
At least this way all the parents of the kids will get to attend. We are taking steps in the right direction, and we can only hope that things will get back to normal sooner than later.