Their boyhood friendship was ended by an out-of-state move. Now, they’re reunited on the football field

Dylan Loftis could always outrun Zane Murphy, but Murphy usually pinned him when they wrestled. Growing up in Tumwater, the two were inseparable best friends.

“Dylan’s in all my best childhood memories,” Murphy said. “We spent Fourth of July together, New Year’s together. We’d go to Black Lake. He lost my swim goggles. He still owes me a pair.”

When they were 9 years old, their friendship came to a 1,600-mile fork in the road when Loftis moved to Minnesota.

This summer, some kid who said he knew Murphy contacted him through Instagram to let him know he’d be joining him on the Tumwater High School football team.

“When he texted me, I was like, ‘Who is this guy?’ Then I was like, ‘Whoa! Dylan.’ Memories started flooding back,” Murphy said. “Once he got here and got in the weight room, he was just grinding. I was excited for the season.”

Loftis moved back to town to reunite with his dad and have the chance to play football at a larger school than 266-student Pillager High School, where he led the Huskies with 1,393 yards rushing and 19 touchdowns in 2017.

“A lot happens in eight years, people grow up and change, but we’re still good friends,” Loftis said. “It’s all part of God’s plan, I believe.”

Despite their early friendship, the two T-Birds, now both senior running backs, had never played football together.

“I wasn’t in football as a kid,” Loftis said.

That’s changed this season.

With Loftis using his speed to get outside, and Murphy continuing to run Tumwater’s occasional Wildcat formation, the two are the second-ranked T-Birds’ (7-0) top two scoring threats entering Friday night’s Pioneer Bowl rivalry game with seventh-ranked Black Hills (7-0), which will likely decide the Class 2A Evergreen Conference championship.

“Dylan’s brought a lot of speed. He’s a hard-nosed runner,” Tumwater coach Bill Beattie said. “Zane’s a great blocker, he catches the ball, runs a counter or two. He has a nose for finding yardage.”

Murphy praises Loftis for having higher expectations of himself than others put on him.

“I don’t know anyone who wants it more than Dylan,” he said. “It’s great to see the fruits all his hard work is producing.”

Loftis likes seeing Murphy’s No. 23 ahead of him when he carries the ball.

“Zane is a brick wall,” he said. “I want him in front of me making that lead block.”

During Tumwater’s season-opener against Timberline, Loftis made an immediate mark.

“I was nervous,” he said. “Tumwater’s a great program and I was making my debut.”

He need not have worried. He ran the second half kickoff back 88 yards for a touchdown, and scored on a 68-yard dash from scrimmage.

“That was amazing,” Murphy said. “I said, ‘Wow, I’ve got this guy on my team?’ ”

Dylan Paine, Tumwater’s leading rusher last season, who was off to a quick start, suffered a non-contact injury and tore his ACL against Rochester three weeks ago, snagging his cleats in tall grass. Paine is out for the season, ending with 774 yards and nine touchdowns on 81 carries.

Losing Paine is a blow that might alter an entire season for most teams, but Tumwater is still half-a-dozen players deep at running back, led by Loftis (60 carries, 819 yards, 15 TDs) and Murphy (45 carries, 294 yards, six TDs).

“Running back is a position a lot of kids want to play here,” Beattie said. “If you play wing-T and three, four, five, six guys can get in, it’s a pretty good position to play. We get a lot of the best athletes wanting to play running back.”

Speedy sophomore fullback Turner Allen (ankle) is questionable for the Pioneer Bowl, but the T-Birds have a next-man-up for that possible absence, too.

Rico Spiegner, who backed up Timberline standout Michael Barnes a year ago before returning to Tumwater, will be available for the first time.

“Rico’s fast and deceptive, blocks well,” Beattie said.

Even though no one gets to seize the spotlight as an every-down back, Tumwater’s rushers appreciate the team’s depth at the position.

“It makes things so much easier,” Murphy said. “Defenses can’t key on one guy. They have to worry about all three running backs in our system. If you get tired, even though nobody wants to come out, you can come out and trust the next guy will do his job.”

Loftis takes it a step further.

“This might be a bold statement, but I firmly believe we’ve got the best set of backs in the state, especially in 2A,” he said.