Leader of the pack
DUXBURY — When Quinn Murphy first appeared at Raymond P. Chandler Field back in 2016, Dave Maimaron knew he had stumbled upon something special.”He came in as a 14-year-old freshman, and started every game for us at the varsity level,” the head coach said. “He was a puppy back then. He was a big puppy, but he was a puppy. And just watching him develop into the man he’s become has been a pleasure.”
Call him a fully-grown bulldog, a bloodhound, whatever you please. A behemoth now standing at 6’6, the 290lb senior is ready to lead the pack - as captain of the Dragons this season, and he is doing so with a chip on his shoulder like much of his teammates.
“I’ve been on the team for four years,” Murphy said. “And I’ve watched all these amazing captains before me, especially last year. I saw how much this meant to them. I remember when we lost to North Attleboro, one of our captains, Jack McKim, defensive end, he didn’t even take his pads off. He just got on the bus, pretty emotional and rode the whole way home in them. It was really tough on him, and it was tough on me and everyone. But I realized all the captains before me loved the game, loved the team. It means everything to them. A lot of people say there really isn’t anything like high school football. And that’s when I really started to believe it, and realize I shouldn’t take everything for granted, that this team means everything to us.”
Now 17, Murphy is already committed to Princeton as an offensive lineman. Murphy may live for pancakes, but don’t think he is limited to protecting the quarterback. He is experienced on the other end as well, finishing 2017 with 14 tackles defensively.
In his first season, Murphy was crucial in helping the Dragons capture a Div. 2 Super Bowl title in 2016. Now playing in a loaded Div. 3 field, Duxbury (1-0) was already among the favorites to make noise. But the Dragons opened many eyes in Week One, blowing past BridgewaterRaynham in stunning fashion, 40-14.
“It felt amazing,” Murphy said of the win. “We lost to (Bridgewater-Raynham) last year, which really hurt us. That took away our home field advantage in the playoffs. We’ve been preparing for that game since the spring, working out, training, everyone here at 6:30 in the morning... We trained really hard, and we wanted to be better than them, we wanted to beat them. They were a young team, and I thought we performed very well.”
Duxbury will battle Scituate tonight. The last time these two squads faced off? 2009, when the Dragons picked up an incredible 15-13 overtime victory to capture the Patriot League Keenan title.
On Tuesday, the fog began to set in at Chandler Field. Most of his varsity teammates had left the property. But Murphy could still be seen, observing the next group of junior varsity stars, as they look to follow in his footsteps.
“I think the team feels pretty good about the win last week,” Murphy said. “But that doesn’t mean anything. We need to have a huge week of practice.”