Rice, Murphy grind out win over Irish

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Senior running back Dan Murphy epitomized Brother Rice’s strong ground game in the host Crusaders’ 28-7 win over visiting Bishop McNamara on Friday night.

Murphy scored two touchdowns and rushed for 84 yards on 14 carries in the nonconference victory.

‘‘That’s what we want to focus our offense on, and that’s our primary thing — we want to run the ball,’’ Murphy said.

After No. 11 Brother Rice (2-0) established a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter on Murphy’s nine-yard run, the Crusaders went up 14-0 on 5-4 senior Dwayne Dade’s five-yard run with 1:34 to play in the first half. Defensive back Frank Rendardo had a stunning 38-yard interception return to set up the touchdown, catching McNamara quarterback Matt Lambert’s pass without any Irish receivers near him. Dade finished with 54 yards on 11 carries.

The Crusaders would have had a three-touchdown lead going into halftime, but Tom Gibson’s 10-yard pass to Kevin Koehler in the left corner of the end zone was called out of bounds. Rice then was called for a holding penalty, and the ball was moved back to the McNamara 29 on third down. The drive ended with a punt.

Murphy’s second touchdown came with 8:48 to play in the third quarter on an 18-yard run.

‘‘My offensive line [opened up a hole], and I could have drove a bus through that — it was just running up the middle,’’ Murphy said.

Brother Rice led 28-0 early in the fourth quarter after Pete Weyforth’s two-yard run.

‘‘The defense played great and really stepped it up from last week [a 24-20 win over Morgan Park],’’ Murphy said.

McNamara (1-1) got on the board with 18 seconds to play when Lambert threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Grant Deam.