Springfield Cougars Move to 2-0

Tom Kline is looking at a bigger picture. The football coach is looking to sure those little pesky things up, looking ahead at possibly playing into December and making the District 1 Class AAA playoffs for the second-straight year.

It’s just games like Friday night that make Kline scratch his head and wonder. Springfield looked very good—at times—in its 35-19 Central League victory at Harriton. But it’s the other things that Kline wants to concern himself with.

For the time being, the Cougars are off to a 2-0 start for the first time in over a decade. They’re there because junior tailback Rob Murphy ran for a career-best 206 yards on 18 carries, and three touchdowns, one a 65-yard run on Springfield’s first score and a 25-yard jaunt that gave Springfield a 28-7 lead. Springfield is undefeated because linebackers Tyler Morrissey and Mike Dougherty were again stellar, and because the Cougars’ overall defense adjusted to Harriton’s passing game.

But two second-half turnovers, seven penalties for 54 yards, all in the second half, too, were things that gnaw at Kline. He knows if that bigger picture plans to be realized, those things can’t happen.

“It’s something I spoke to this team about the first day, we need to pay attention to detail, and we’re just not there yet,” Kline said. “This is a very good football team, with talented, character kids. But we need more work. We need to pay attention more. That’s one thing we have on this team are a bunch of kids who want to learn and want to get better.”

There was no one better than the diminutive Murphy in the first half. The 5-foot-9, 165-pound junior rushed for 154 yards in the first half on just 10 carries. Murphy offset the powerful passing attack of Harriton, and Pat Moriarty.

“We started out a little flat and we rose to the challenge, but their quarterback is good, incredibly good,” Morrissey said. “We do have to improve on our focus, though. I think we bothered by practicing in the gym all week during the rain. That sets everything off. But we go the job done.”

Harriton led once, 7-0, on a Moriarty-to-Ryan Kelly 21-yard touchdown pass with 5:00 left in the first quarter. Moriarty was near flawless in the first 12 minutes, completing 9 of 10 passes for 113 yards. Then the Springfield running game, and Murphy, took over. The Cougars scored on three-straight possessions to take control of the game.

“We had our chances, we had them and we let them go,” Kelly said. “We have a lot of talent on this team, I think, but there were a lot of little things that went wrong.” Harriton closed within 28-19, but failed on a two-point conversion with 2:42 left to play.

Springfield took the ball and ground down the clock, ending when the Cougars’ Dougherty broke a number of tackles and scored on 18-yard run with :05.1 seconds left to play. It led to a little discussion after the game between the coaches that was quickly resolved.