For the second time in three seasons, the Holy Innocents’ Golden Bears are region champs after beating the Wesleyan Wolves 21-0 on Friday at Henderson Stadium.
1A Private’s No. 8-ranked Golden Bears (8-1, 3-0 in Region 5) were led by three short touchdown runs from sophomore Jacobi Murray, a 6-2, 240-pound bruising back who also created havoc at defensive end, breaking up passes and hurrying the quarterback.
The Golden Bears controlled the game with their triple-option offense, using seven rushers to total 242 yards on 49 carries. Murray, who has an offer from Georgia Tech, had 65 yards on 13 carries, including touchdown runs of 1, 2 and 3 yards.
Murray’s scores came in the second, third and fourth quarters. He also converted a fourth-and-1 and three third-and-shorts to extend drives.
“We always want to be physical and punch them in the mouth,” Murray said. “We practice that every single day, and coach always emphasizes controlling the line of scrimmage, and that’s what we were able to do.”
Murray opened the scoring with a 1-yard run, witch came with 1:13 left in the half and gave the Golden Bears a 7-0 lead heading into halftime. They took the second half’s opening drive 53 yards on six plays, scoring on Murray’s 3-yard run. The drive was set up by Drew Bomar’s kickoff return to their 47.
With 2:56 left in the game, Murray put the exclamation point on the Golden Bears’ win with a 2-yard run — this following Jackson James’ interception of Wesleyan, which put Holy Innocents’ on the Wolves’ 26.
It was another dominant effort on defense after beating Mount Vernon 56-7 last week. They had seven interceptions in that game, four of which were returned for touchdowns. On Friday, they collected two more picks and forced a turnover-on-downs and five punts.
Golden Bears coach Todd Winter is most impressed that his team is winning with young players. Winter said the Golden Bears start two seniors on offense and four on defense.
“We are so young,” Winter said. “We have 69 guys on the roster. Nine are seniors. And we’re starting nine sophomores on defense. Our whole secondary is sophomores with one junior.”
As for winning the region title, Winter said that was, “Huge.”
“Like I told the guys,” he said, “you can win two trophies a year — region and state. ...Kirby Smart made a good point at a clinic I went to a few years ago. He said in Georgia, a region title is sometimes harder to win than a state title. We’re not done. We’ve got to stay humble and stay hungry.”
Added Murray, “We can go all the way.”
For the No. 6 Wolves (6-2, 2-1), who won Region 5 last year, it was a night to forget. Not only did they struggle to move the ball on offense, but they had a number of missed tackles on defense that allowed the Golden Bears to drive the ball downfield at will.
They were limited to just 167 yards of offense.
Holy Innocents’ 0 7 7 7 — 21
Wesleyan 0 0 0 0 — 0
H — Jacobi Murray 1 run (Ethan Reuther kick)
H — Murray 3 run (Reuther kick)
H — Murray 2 run (Ruether kick)
