Brucie Murphy spent the first two weeks of his high school football career at Cinni Prep as the starting quarterback on the Freshman team. After two dominant performances leading the Freshman Catfish to victory, he was unexpectedly given a chance to do the same for the winless Varsity team.

Folks around town have been buzzing about Murphy’s skills since he was a pee wee MVP. The Varsity coaching staff took notice of Murphy’s first two weeks and promoted him to back up current Senior starting QB, Gerard Gonzalez for Week 3.

When Gonzalez suffered a concussion during the team’s first drive of the 3rd quarter, Murphy was thrown into the fire. Inheriting a 14-0 deficit, Murphy took his first snap turning the wrong way for a handoff resulting in Murphy fumbling the ball after a violent collision with multiple Milton High defenders. Luckily, Cinni Prep recovered the fumble and maintained possession. Facing 2nd down and 17 yards to go for a first down, the Catfish coaching staff dialed up Murphy’s first pass of his high school career.

Murphy dropped back, instantly surrounded by two blitzing unblocked linebackers. He ducked under the first attempted tackle and then spun to his right sprinting away from the second linebacker. From there, Murphy launched the prettiest throw Cinniapolitans have seen in quite some time from a Catfish quarterback. Unfortunately, no Catfish receiver was within 20 yards of the throw and Milton High’s safety easily intercepted the pass. It was in this moment where Murphy won over his teammates and coach.

“Brucie screeched at the defense to pick him up and get the ball back. He guaranteed victory if the defense could hold Milton to no points after his interception. And, the boys responded in a big way,” said Head Coach Benny Marmalade.

The Catfish D delivered and held Milton High’s offense to one first down before forcing a punt. Once Murphy and the offense got the ball back, they led a surgical drive down the field for the first offensive Catfish touchdown of the season. Murphy expertly picked apart Milton High’s zone coverages with intermediate gains. Then, when Milton High called for an all-out blitz, Murphy audibled to a deep fade route for his split end, Barry Linsington. Linsington broke open down field and hauled in a perfect pass for the score to end the 3rd quarter.

It was more of the same in the 4th quarter. The Catfish D impressed without allowing another first down for the rest of the game. Murphy led the offense down the field for 3 more touchdowns, resulting in a 28-14 victory for the Catfish.

“I wasn’t ready right away. I took a wrong turn and then a big hit. I was careless with the ball on the second play. But, the D picked us up today. Without a really strong performance from them, we don’t win this game,” said Murphy.

Regarding next week’s starter, Coach Marmalade was coy, “The most important thing is Gerard’s health. We’ll assess that during the week and be ready for next week, no matter who is taking snaps,” he said.