Murphy leads Chieftains to victory over Bulldogs

Published 8:37 am Monday, August 27, 2018

By Staff Report

DOWAGIAC — Each summer, football programs go through weeks of preseason practices and scrimmages, but never really know what they have until that first game of the regular season.

Coaches can speculate all they want about how they will play, which players will step up or which players will need to continue working even harder to get better.

Veteran Dowagiac coach Mike Stanger found out that his football team can be physical, it has a lot of speed and that it can respond to the challenge.

Stanger learned all that in Dowagiac’s 54-14 thumping of visiting Vicksburg at Chris Taylor-Alumni Field Thursday night.

The Chieftains dominated the Bulldogs up front, especially on offense. Dowagiac showed it was the much quicker team and they used that advantage to roll up nearly 600 yards of total offense.

Are there things that Dowagiac will need to work on as it prepares for this week’s game on the road at Three Rivers?

Of course.

But with a big win under their belt, the Chieftains will be brimming with confidence when they get on the bus and head east.

“We have a lot to build on,” Stanger said following the victory. “But we have a lot to work on. You can see we are not a deep team because we are only dressing 26 or 27 players. We have to make sure we get in a little better shape. We got a little winded and some of the players were cramping. They played as a unit and as a family.”

One of the unknowns coming into the 2018 season was Cailyn Murphy at quarterback.

The junior had never taken a varsity snap until Thursday night. Murphy rose to the challenged and played well in leading the Dowagiac offense to some pretty impressive numbers.

What was most noticeable about Murphy was his poise in the pocket.

The Chieftain offensive line struggled out of the gate with pass blocking, but Murphy was able to scramble, keep his head up and made good decisions with the football.

As the game wore on, the Dowagiac offensive line got better and better, which allowed the team to do pretty much anything it wanted.

As a result, the Chieftains rushed for 447 yards, led by senior Kade Schreiber, who rushed for 159 yards on eight carries and scored a touchdown. Schreiber averaged 19.8 yards per carry behind the offensive line, made up of Cody Dorman, Mike Sarabyn, Gabe Green, Gabe Aranda, Tyler Howland, Donovan Sullivan and Luke Staten.

“The offensive line was more confident in our blocks than we were in our scrimmage,” Stanger said. “In our scrimmage, we looked a little hesitant as we were still trying to figure out who we were going to and tonight we got off the ball and got into people and opened holes for our backs.”

When Dowagiac dropped back to pass, Murphy was on the money as he went 3-for-3 for 140 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

“I thought Cailyn did a great job at quarterback,” Stanger said. “He stepped right into the speed of the game as a junior. That is always a worry when you bring a player from JV to varsity. It is the speed of the game. He stepped right in.”

Defensively, the Chieftains gave up some yards, but did not allow a lot of big players or scoring opportunities for Vicksburg.

The Bulldogs finished with 319 yards of total offense, including 175 yards rushing.

Leading defenders for the Chieftains were T.J. Reed, who led the team with seven tackles and an interception. Reed also caught a pass from Murphy for a touchdown.

Dylan Hill had six tackles, including three for a loss and a sack. Dorman and Andrew McIntosh, who had a pair of touchdowns, both recovered fumbles for the Chieftains.

“I thought our defensive ends did a tremendous job of squeezing them,” Stanger said. “They love to run that tackle trap and they hit it, but only once. Dylan Hill had a great pass rush all night.”

There is a lot to build on according to Stanger.

“The goal is to be 1-0 each week,” he said. “Now we have to get ready for Three Rivers.”

Dowagiac and Three Rivers will kick off the second week of Wolverine Conference football at 7 p.m. Thursday.

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