WHILE CLARENCE Murphy indeed majors in plumbing at Murrell Dobbins Tech, don't assume his fascination with faucets is all-encompassing.
When football doesn't intervene, as it did Saturday, not that he minded, Murphy puts in time for an uncle's contracting firm.
His primary activity?
"I like doing demolition," he said.
Murphy usually can be found swinging a sledgehammer because it's his main responsibility to break through walls so leaky pipes can be accessed.
"It's fun. You have to love a job where you can smash stuff," he said, laughing. "I've been doing it for about 3 years now. It helps me for football, too, because I get to carry around heavy stuff, like cinder blocks, and that makes me stronger."
Murphy, a 6-1, 275-pound senior, is a two-way tackle, and Saturday at Northeast he showed the strength of two men as Dobbins blasted Boys' Latin Charter, 42-12, for the Public AAA championship and a spot in Saturday's City Title (4 o'clock, also at Northeast) vs. Archbishop Wood.
His blocking helped Jameel Davis and Daquan "Day-Day" Brown combine for 310 yards and five touchdowns while his six stops on defense included one sack and two others for losses.
Before the season, considering how hard graduation had hit, few would have predicted a second consecutive title (and third in 4 years) for the Mustangs. Murphy wasn't sure. Plus, he had to deal with a work-related injury.
"I was coming down off a ladder and I stepped right on a nail," he said. "I had my work boots on, but it went right through my left foot. I was pretty mad at myself for not even looking. I thought right away, 'This is gonna mess up my season.' It wasn't really bad, though. Just caused bruising."
Dobbins' grunts are center Kyle Napper-Green, guards Kareem Jefferson and Zahmir Mitchell, and tackles Murphy and Gibreel Conteh. When two tight ends are used, look for Kevin Norris and Dishon Solomon.
Murphy is the lone veteran, and a year ago he played center.
"Moving to tackle, at first I wasn't sure how that was going to work," he said. "Coach [John] Sullivan said I'd be fine, so I had faith. I worked hard to learn that position and I tried to bring along the other guys, mostly first-year players, so we wouldn't have a tough season."
Though Dobbins dropped two of its first five games and finished third in division play, it bested a conqueror, Simon Gratz Charter, in last week's semis and in this one mostly had its way with a squad fresh from a 30-0 triumph over then-9-0 West Philadelphia.
