EVERETT – The Storm gave the Wildcats a scare to begin the game, but Archbishop Murphy showed why it is one of the top teams in the 2A division as it defeated Squalicum 45-21 at Terry Ennis Stadium on Friday night.
A fumble on the first Wildcat possession was recovered by Storm senior defensive lineman Ezra Nichols, and was quickly followed up by a 53-yard pitch and catch from junior quarterback Cole Burke to senior running back Marcus Nixon for a touchdown.
On Archbishop Murphy’s following possession Squalicum’s Laki Fagaautau knocked the ball loose from a Wildcat running back and the junior outside linebacker also recovered it to give the ball back to his squad.
Moments later it was Fagaautau showing off his receiving skills as he caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Burke to put the Storm up 14-0.
Archbishop Murphy would be done making mistakes by that point, and went on to score touchdowns on each of its next six possessions to put the game out of reach.
Burke completed his third touchdown pass of the day on a deep ball to junior Ansen Asbjornsen, but that would be the final big play for the Squalicum offense.
Burke finished with 183 yards on 8-of-12 passing, and Nixon led his team with 132 all-purpose yards.
Senior inside linebacker Malakai Smith had a team-high 12.5 tackles, including a tackle for loss. Fagaautau wasn’t far behind with 11.5 stops, as well as a tackle for loss.
The machine-like run offense of the Wildcats powered for 360 yards on 56 rushing plays.
The Storm (2-1) will host Lakewood (1-2) at Civic Stadium on Saturday at 7:00.
Archbishop Murphy 45 Squalicum 21 SQU 7 7 7 0 - 21 ATM 0 17 21 7 - 45 SQU - Nixon 53 pass from Burke (Kaiser kick) SQU - Fagaautau 17 pass from Burke (Kaiser kick) ATM - 3 yard touchdown run (kick good) ATM - Safety, Nixon tackled in end zone ATM - 1 yard touchdown run (kick good) ATM - 3 yard touchdown run (kick good) SQU - Asbjornsen 60 pass from Burke (Kaiser kick) ATM - 38 yard touchdown pass (kick good) ATM - 6 yard touchdown run (kick good) ATM - 3 yard touchdown run (kick good) SQU ATM 22-82 Rush Att-Yards 56-360 8-13-1 Comp-Att-Int 1-3-0 183 Passing Yards 38 Individual Leaders RUSHING - SQU: Nixon 15-79, Ortiz 1-3, Smith 3-2, Burke 2-3, Knowlton 1-(-5). ATM: N/A. PASSING - SQU: Burke 8-12-1-183, Asbjornsen 0-1-0-0. ATM: N/A. RECEIVING - SQU: Asbjornsen 3-96, Fagaautau 2-18, Nixon 1-53, Smith 1-11, Clark 1-5. ATM: N/A.
