First thing first: Get a stop on Archbishop Murphy’s running quarterback, Hans VanderWel.
The Tumwater Thunderbirds achieved that, more or less, after the first quarter. But the T-Birds didn’t account for the passing quarterback VanderWel or the sticky pass-defending VanderWel, and the rest of the Wildcats followed the lead of their junior standout en route to a 41-6 victory over the defending Class 2A champions in a first-round playoff game at Tumwater District Stadium.
The game was a startling reversal of the 2010 title game, when Tumwater handled Archbishop Murphy, 34-14. This year, the Wildcats dominated from opening kickoff.
“That’s probably the biggest whipping we’ve had on that field in a long time,” a weary Tumwater coach Sid Otton said afterward.
On the first offensive series, the 6-foot, 200-pound VanderWel had carries of 16 and 8 yards on a seven-play, 57-yard drive capped by a 17-yard touchdown run by junior tailback Ricky Gordon.
Tumwater stopped Archbishop Murphy on downs on its next possession at the T-Birds’ 20, with most of the yardage coming on a 40-yard burst by junior Alex Galgano.
But Tumwater did nothing with the ball, punting three times and gaining two first downs and in fact had three punts and just two first downs in four first-half possessions against the sure-tackling Wildcats.
Midway through the second quarter, Archbishop Murphy scored again on a 32-yard pass from VanderWel to Cameron Guy, who skirted the sideline untouched into the end zone.
The T-Birds’ deepest first-half penetration ended on an interception of a Daniel Hinkle pass by VanderWel at the Wildcats’ 21. Archbishop Murphy turned the takeaway into points just before halftime on a 16-yard run by Conner Kruse for a 21-0 lead.
Tumwater rode a 31-yard Hinkle pass to Andrew Brown into Archbishop Murphy territory on the first possession of the second half, but the threat was negated by a bobbled handoff that was scooped up near midfield by Gordon and returned to the Tumwater 8. After a personal foul penalty on Tumwater, Galgano took it in from the 2.
It did not get better for Tumwater after that. Forced to punt from their own end zone, the Thunderbirds allowed Galgano to burst through for a 26-yard touchdown on the ensuing series.
Late in the fourth quarter, a 30-yard run by freshman David Loveless got the Wildcats deep, and Gordon took it in from 4 yards out to complete Archbishop Murphy’s scoring.
Tumwater got on the board with a 4-yard touchdown run by Payten Olson, set up by a 32-yard pass from Jayden Croft to Connor Smith.
Archbishop Murphy powered for 360 yards on the ground, led by Galgano’s 15 carries for 125 yards and VanderWel’s 102 yards on 16 attempts.
Tumwater had 52 yards on the ground, 105 through the air and eight first downs.
Archbishop Murphy will play the winner of the Othello-Steilacoom game today in the quarterfinals, while Tumwater’s season is done.
Otton said a large junior class contributed heavily to last year’s championship team, and those seniors got the T-Birds back to the playoffs again this year.
“The whole thing is you always want to leave the program better than you found it,” Otton said of his seniors, many of whom were tearful in the postgame locker room. “They certainly did that. But you get the sense it’s not easy for them to say goodbye.”
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