Big plays, tough defense send Woodcreek past Roseville in Junction Bowl

Trace Murchison does things that Woodcreek High School football coach Kyle Stowers says "you can't coach." The 6-foot, 185-pound junior receiver makes defenders miss, shakes off tacklers, and when there's contact, Murchison possesses a put-down stiff-arm. He gets open, has soft hands and blocks downfield. Murchison ran for the Timberwolves' first touchdown and caught eight passes for 201 yards and a score in a 21-11 victory over visiting Roseville on Friday night, Sept. 12, in the annual Junction Bowl. Woodcreek (3-0) celebrated boisterously with the perpetual plaque on a beautiful night. Stowers remembered his first taste of the annual rivalry game in 2013 – a loss to the Tigers. "I'll never forget when they chanted, 'This is our town,' " he said. "You know, in some ways, it's personal. I think the world of Adam (Roseville coach Reinking) and what they do over there, but you see them around town, you see them at basketball games, so it's always nice to be able to show up to those games knowing you did your job in the fall." Woodcreek's offense didn't touch the ball until the first quarter was more than half over, but senior quarterback Josiah Melendez engineered the offense and put the ball in the hands of Murchison and junior running back Blake Hastings to roll up 337 total yards. The Timberwolves scored on their first three possessions, but the second touchdown drive stood out in turning the game. Good Roseville punt coverage pinned Woodcreek at its 3-yard line with 5:24 remaining in the second quarter, and Hastings was nearly stopped for a safety on first down. From the 1-yard line, Melendez ran away from Tigers rushers in the end zone before finding an open Murchison between defenders for a 50-yard fling into Roseville territory at the 49-yard line. "I saw Joey roll out and no one was behind me so I just took off, and I saw Joey step back and set up, and I was like oh yeah, here he comes," Murchison said. Stowers said of Murchison, "There's just certain athletes that you're going to coach you're going to do the best you can to get them in position to be successful. Some of them have this innate ability to find space and break one or two tackles, come back on our little scramble drill and catch that ball. "My favorite part about him, he's a 3.8 student. He's a great teammate, and he's humble, and oftentimes, your best players don't act that way. But he's one of those people that thinks about others. I feel spoiled because I get to coach him." The running game finished the seven-play, 97-yard march behind an offensive line of sophomore left tackle Marcus Mauck, senior left guard and anchor Jasper Liggins, center Lucca Antonini, senior right guard Daniel Morton and senior right tackle Dylan Gregg, along with junior tackle Jacob Madsen and junior tight ends Roman Pereyda and Tilden Hull. Melendez scored on an eight-yard run, and Brody Simpson's second of three point-after kicks gave Woodcreek a 14-3 lead with 58.9 seconds left in the second quarter. Woodcreek answered Roseville's game-opening 13-play, 61-yard, 7-minute, 7-second drive – which ended with a 22-yard field goal by senior Austin Chang – with a nearly 7-minute 12-play, 77-yard march, with Murchison scoring on a four-yard run. He also had catches for 38 and 22 yards on the drive. "When the ball gets in my hands, I can't let one person tackle me," Murchison said. Melendez and Murchison connected again for a 32-yard touchdown to cap a quick six-play, 70-yard drive to open the second half. Melendez finished the night 9 for 13 passing for 205 yards and two touchdowns. Hastings rushed 17 times for 85 yards. "Everyone came out. Roseville really showed out, and it's just great," Murchison said of the Junction Bowl. "It's a rivalry game. Everyone dreams about these, and to come out and win with your boys is just great." Roseville's offense was quiet following the game-opening touchdown drive until junior quarterback Hunter Felkins threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to senior Duane "Peanut" Hawkins with 2:52 left, capping another lengthy 15-play, 82-yard drive. The Tiger sideline looked like, as Reinking put it, "a MASH unit." Senior quarterback Mason Susnara continues to wear a boot on his left foot, running back D'Marcis Gresham (ankle) and receiver JJ Yong (broken collarbone) were out, and senior Cole Takahashi joined them on the sideline midway through the third quarter, spending the remainder of the game with ice on his left ankle after rushing for 58 yards in 10 carries. "If somebody would have said to me in July that you could potentially be 4-1 without our quarterback, without our receiver, without our running back, with probably seven or eight guys that have missed multiple weeks, I think we would take that," Reinking said. Still, he believed the Tigers would find on game film "there were things we could have done a little bit better that would have made the score closer," adding, "You gotta learn from those failures and grow from them. So that's what we're going to do – focus on improving ourselves, get healthy and try to put on a good performance for homecoming." Roseville has a bye this week and plays host to Antioch-Deer Valley (3-0) on Sept 26. Woodcreek opens Capital Valley Conference play Friday, Sept. 19, at Ponderosa (3-1).