Bearcats meet match, season ends

TUMWATER - If defense does indeed win championships, then Archbishop Murphy and Chehalis both proved themselves worthy of wearing the Class 2A crown Saturday.

Near perfection is also required to win titles, and the Wildcats were just a little closer than the Bearcats on a stormy day at Tumwater Stadium.

Alex Martinez scored two touchdowns for Archbishop Murphy, the second of which broke a tie with 31.6 seconds left and gave the Wildcats a 14-7 Class 2A state quarterfinal victory over Chehalis.

“That was a battle, that was just a classic playoff battle,” Archbishop Murphy coach Dave Ward said. “These are two very evenly matched teams, and that’s what you saw.”

“We had opportunities. It just didn’t work out,” Bearcats coach Bob Wollan said. “There was going to be one very good football team that left here tonight heartbroken.”

The Wildcats (11-1) will take on Lynden next Saturday at the Tacoma Dome in the state semifinals. The Bearcats saw their formerly perfect season come to a close with an 11-1 record.

Two things really hurt Chehalis on Saturday – three turnovers and a nearly silent first-half offense.

The Bearcats ran just 12 plays in the first half, finishing the first two quarters with a rushing total of negative one yard and a total of 51 yards passing – 45 of which came on one play. Despite that, Chehalis trailed by a touchdown at halftime and drew even late in the third quarter when Tyler McCarty punched it in on fourth-and-goal from the 1.

Credit the defense for keeping things close not only in the first half, but throughout the night.

“I thought our kid’s effort was inspirational,” said Wollan, who led Pullman to a state championship in 2005 with a win over Archbishop Murphy. “I mean, it was unbelievable the amount of courage and toughness that we showed. Our defense was very special tonight.”

The biggest stop of the night for the Bearcats came on the first play of the fourth quarter when they again kept the Wildcats out of the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 1. Chehalis took over deep in its own territory, and, on third-and-10, quarterback Ben Ternan hooked up with Mitch Gueller on an 80-yard completion. On the same drive, however, Chehalis committed its third turnover on an interception, although none of those miscues led directly to Wildcats points.

Archbishop Murphy kept to the script, using a plethora of running backs led by Martinez.

The senior ran for 130 yards on 25 carries, and the Wildcats accumulated 343 rushing yards.

Chehalis picked up big chunks of yardage through the air. Ternan completed 7-of-12 attempts for 183 yards, but the running game finished with just 23 yards. That lack of production can be traced back to an outstanding Wildcat defense and the loss of leading rusher Brennan Casteel, who tore his ACL in the Bearcats’ first-round win over Blaine last week.

“We really struggled offensively trying to figure out what we could do against these guys,” Wollan said. “And we knew going in that it was going to be very tough to move the football.”

Class 1A quarterfinal

Cascade Christian 13, Montesano 12: A missed extra point early in the game and a botched 2-point attempt late spelled doom for the Bulldogs.

The loss ends Montesano’s year with an 11-1 record, while Cascade Christian (12-0) will head to the Tacoma Dome on Saturday to play Nooksack Valley in the state semifinals.

The Cougars built a 13-6 lead early in the fourth quarter on the strength of a pair of Jonathan Fellcheck field goals and a Colton Faverty touchdown. The Bulldogs pulled within a point on a Gabe West touchdown with 8:02 to play. Montesano coach Terry Jensen decided to go for two, the Bulldogs faked the PAT kick, but the intended receiver missed the call and an unplanned-for run was squashed.

“We were going for two all the way,” Jensen said. “We were supposed to release the receiver to our left and he must not have heard the call.”

Cascade Christian ran out the clock from there, finally giving the ball back with just 1:59 left in the game with Montesano backed up at its own 30.