Hornets first-year coach Ronny Allen called Murphy back, gave him a well-deserved pat on the shoulder and signaled for the backups.
Murphy rushed for 151 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries Thursday night as Holland routed Giddings State School 48-6 at Hornet Field.
Holland improved to 3-0 - the Hornets’ most wins since 2002.
“If you would have told me a month ago that we’d be 3-0, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Allen said. “These kids have really bought into everything we’re doing and they’re working hard.”
Said Giddings State School coach Sandy Brown: “We came out flat tonight. Last week we came out with a lot of enthusiasm (in a 46-0 win over Runge) but tonight we just came out flat.”
Despite Brown’s disappointment, the Indians (1-1) did strike first.
After Giddings State School recovered a fumble at its 37-yard line, its quarterback (full names were not available) threw a short flare pass to a wide receiver who out ran several defenders down the left sideline for a 63-yard touchdown to give the Indians an early 6-0 lead.
“We’ve been preaching and preaching that we could not have a mental lapse and take these guys too easily,” Allen said. “No matter what we said, I think they came in too soft. That one touchdown woke us up. That’s what I was worried about the whole game.”
After that early touchdown, Murphy and the Hornets completely dominated the rest of the way. Giddings State didn’t record another first down for 25 minutes.
On fourth-and-5 from the 30, Murphy appeared to be stopped at the 20 before spinning away from a tackler and racing down the right sideline to give Holland a 7-6 first-quarter lead.
Three plays after Murphy returned a punt 31 yards, he sprinted up the middle for a 29-yard touchdown run and a 13-6 lead.
Just before halftime, junior quarterback Clayton Ash pump-faked to his right and lofted an 11-yard touchdown pass over an Indian defender to Darius Moore in the back of the end zone for a 27-6 lead.
Brown said his players had a difficult time keeping up with the Hornets’ no-huddle offense.
“We’re not used to it,” Brown said. “Twenty-one of our 25 players have never played football, and even when you have kids who have played before it’s hard to get them used to being ready for the no-huddle.”
Holland will host Waco Texas Christian next Friday.
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
