EVERETT – If it wasn’t for the first quarter, Bellingham would have been in good shape. But, that pesky first quarter saw Archbishop Murphy crank out seven touchdowns before defeating the Bayhawks 61-28 at Terry Ennis Stadium on Friday night.
Before you could blink, the Wildcats had poured on 47 points over the first 12 minutes of action, and after also scoring the first touchdown of the second quarter, Bellingham began to make some things happen. It started with a 27-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Ben Leonard to senior wide receiver Joe Harward.
On the following drive Leonard saw junior tight end Calvin VanHofwegen break off his route and head up field, and Leonard hit him perfectly in stride and VanHofwegen did the rest as he sprinted his way towards a 73-yard touchdown.
Archbishop Murphy wasn’t done, however, as it returned the ensuing kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown, which gave the Wildcats a 61-14 lead at the half.
Leonard and Harward connected twice more on long scoring plays in the second half, as Leonard finished with 308 yards passing and four touchdowns. Harward caught eight passes for 180 yards and three scores.
Defensively, Bellingham was led by senior defensive lineman Elias Goodbuffalo who had 4.5 tackles, two tackles for loss and a quarterback sack. VanHofwegen chipped in with 6.5 tackles and one stop behind the line of scrimmage and senior Cyrus Campos snagged his first career interception.
The Bayhawks (2-2) will travel to Granite Falls (4-0) on Friday to take on the Tigers at 7:00.
Archbishop Murphy 61 Bellingham 28 BEL 0 14 7 7 - 28 ATM 47 14 0 0 - 61 ATM - 43 yard touchdown run (kick good) ATM - 27 yard interception return (kick good) ATM - 6 yard touchdown run (kick failed) ATM - 54 yard touchdown pass (kick good) ATM - 1 yard touchdown run (kick good) ATM - 4 yard touchdown run (pass failed) ATM - 30 yard touchdown run (kick good) ATM - 30 yard touchdown run (kick good) BEL - Harward 27 pass from Leonard (Hanstead kick) BEL - VanHofwegen 73 pass from Leonard (Hanstead kick) ATM - 84 yard kickoff return for a touchdown (kick good) BEL - Harward 41 pass from Leonard (Hanstead kick) BEL - Harward 70 pass from Leonard (Hanstead kick) BEL ATM 18-10 Rush Att-Yards 31-232 17-34-1 Comp-Att-Int 4-7-1 308 Passing Yards 131 Individual Leaders RUSHING - BEL: Harward 1-12, Powell 1-10, Hanstead 11-9, Campos 1-5, Leonard 4-(-26). ATM: N/A PASSING - BEL: Leonard 17-34-1-308. ATM: N/A RECEIVING - BEL: Harward 8-180, VanHofwegen 3-80, Hanstead 3-27, Wright 3-21. ATM: N/A
