Murphy/Hendo play an opening night classic

[knine1]

Without a doubt Murphy and Hendersnville played the best and highest quality opening night game Ive ever seen. Dogs pull it out at the bitter end 34-28. Both offenses looked like well oiled machines for an opening night game. Hendo qb Schmid is awesome. Marcus Mariota kind of qb , run pass field general the total package. I thoight Murphy's line play and physical hitting started showing up in the 2nd half.

It was 21-20 at half Hendo after a missed Murphy pat. Dogs take 2nd half kickoff and score to make it 28-21. Dogs march back down to the 6 to take a 2 td lead and FUMBLE ! Hendo then makes a pickoff and return it to the 1 and tie it at 28-28. Dogs get a late 4th qtr stop then put together a CLUTCH drives to go up 34-28 with 1.37 left. Hendo cant score with the clock running and Murphy holds on 34-28.

Just a credit to both teams and coaching staffs to have their teams ready to play a playoff type game on opening night. If both offenses stay healthy they will both score like a pinball machine this year. Hats off to all involved for an absolute opening night classic.

 

[Illuminati704]

Sounds like an awesome game. Wish more posters would be this insightful when posting scores about their teams. Thanks for that.

 

[mbdfan]

This was a good game. Hendersonville played the better of the two teams in the 1st half but it was pretty much all Murphy after halftime. 'Dogs depth really seemed to play a factor in the 2nd half, Hendo's only 2nd half score was on an interception return to the 1 yard line. The final score shouldn't have been that close given how much Murphy outplayed Hendo in the 2nd half, but I'll take it for the first game of the season against a quality team with a lot of experience.

Good luck to Hendersonville the rest of the way. If Hendo can improve defensively on the perimeter (they were solid up the middle) they will be a tough out this season, they shouldn't have any trouble putting up plenty of points on most teams. The Bearcats should be right in the mix for a WHC title this season.

 

[Cold Biscuit]

Impressed with how much youth Murphy was playing tonight. They will be loaded the next 2 years.

 

[mbdfan]

Offensively, Murphy had some trouble running the ball in the first half but they changed things up in the second half and did a much better job. The 'Dogs started running off tackle more in the 2nd half and that allowed #34 Kadrian McRae to use his top shelf speed to break some big runs. The passing game was awesome all night. #10 Matt Lovingood is a monster at TE, he has some of the best hands I've seen at Murphy. I never thought I'd say this but if he keeps that up all season he could be even better than Puccio was as far as catching the football. And that is high praise from me because Puccio is the best TE that Murphy has ever had, IMO. I thought both of Murphy's QB's looked really good and either one would start for any team in the SMC. Murphy has been blessed with great QB play for the last decade and that doesn't look to change anytime soon with #1 Joey Curry only being a sophomore. Curry is a little more accurate, while #4 Dalton Kent has a little stronger arm.

Defensively, Murphy's pass coverage was solid most of the night. The run D needs a little work but nothing that can't be improved on. The only real issue I saw defensively was that they need to do a better job of wrapping up. 'Dogs had Hendo QB dead to rights in the backfield multiple times and he was able to get loose because they did a poor job wrapping up. Credit to Hendo's QB though, he's a heck of an athlete.

Special teams were a mixed bag. The 'Dogs are REALLY going to miss Foster Stroup. #14 Joey Helton's leg isn't in the same galaxy as Stroup', this will hurt the 'Dogs in the field position battle this season. Murphy is no longer going to be automatic on XP's either without Stroup. I thought Lovingood was solid punting the ball, not his best night but not bad either. On the positive side, I thought Murphy's return teams and coverage units looked solid.

Overall, there was a lot to like if you're a Murphy fan. The biggest issue on the night was that the 'Dogs committed far too many penalties. They will have to cut down on those if they expect to beat a good Franklin team next week. The 'Dogs were also a little loose with the football at times tonight (multiple fumbles) but hopefully those kinks will get worked out before next Friday at the Pit.