MARSTONS MILLS — “Hard work pays off” has become somewhat of a cliche these days, a phrase thrown around loosely and with ever-decreasing value.
Not so in the Murray household over near Middle Pond in the heart of “The Mills.” In Pat and Kristin Murray’s humble home, it’s a phrase that means everything.
Owen Murray, one of Barnstable High’s top student-athletes, accepted a football scholarship yesterday to Stonehill College in Easton, MA.
Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports
Especially to their son, Barnstable High School senior Owen Murray, all 6’3″ and 260 pounds of him. Yesterday, Murray signed his NCAA commitment letter to play football this fall for Division 2 Stonehill College. He received “a significant financial offer,” according to his mom, Kristin.
“We are very excited for him,” she added.
As any proud parents should be; but it’s the end result of a relentless pursuit toward a dream and it’s a dream not foreign to the hulking offensive lineman’s parents. The Murrays’ oldest son – Seamus Murray – is a a freshman playing football at Division 1 UMass-Amherst. Their youngest – daughter Maggie Murray – is already a freshman two-sport standout at Barnstable High and she currently plays for the girls’ varsity basketball team.
The choice wasn’t necessarily an easy one for the eight-time varsity football and wrestling letterman and two-sport captain.
Numerous colleges and universities sought out Murray’s talents in both sports. Currently, Murray is the number one-ranked heavyweight wrestler in Massachusetts. He is the two-time defending Division 1 South Sectional Champion and a five-time Old Colony League all-star (football and wrestling combined). He has yet to be beaten on the mats this season and is one of the few undefeated wrestlers in the state.
For a young man who looks like he could flip a Volkswagen Beetle with one hand, however, he is about as humble as they come. The two-sport varsity captain was most excited about moving on after graduation to not merely take his game to a higher level, but just as importantly, to be afforded the chance to study the subject of his choice. Murray will be studying criminal justice.
“I was looking pretty much all around,” he said last night. “But I went and visited and really enjoyed the campus and the setting and it has a nice atmosphere.”
Murray will be playing for Skyhawks’ head coach Robert Talley whose team went 5-6 last fall but has had consistent success in his tenure. Murray said he was specifically recruited to play on the Skyhawks’ offensive line and there have been a considerable number of top collegiate offensive lineman who’ve come out of Barnstable High over the past 20 years, but not many with the sheer power and explosiveness of this offensive and defensive tackle. Murray was awarded the prestigious Heart and Drive Offensive Lineman of the Year Award this past fall, as well as the vaunted Jean G. Hinkle Memorial Award. The Hinkle Award is the oldest high school athletic award on Cape Cod and it comes with a monetary scholarship. It was established in 1935 by one of the early local beneficiaries of the Barnstable High School football program, one of the state’s oldest programs and the oldest high school sport in Barnstable at 122 years.
Pound for pound, Barnstable senior Owen Murray could very well rank among the best offensive lineman in school history. He’s ranked number one in the state in wrestling at the heavyweight level.
Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports
Murray was recruited in part by former Red Raider football and basketball standout Andre Barboza who is the wide receivers’ coach at Stonehill. Barboza and Murray share something considerable in common: they both helped lead the Red Raiders to an Old Colony League championship title (Murray in 2012 and 2013 and Barboza in 2002) and both were named Old Colony League all-stars on the gridiron. Murray was afforded the opportunity to start on the offensive line in 2012 that drove the Red Raiders to an 11-1 campaign and a Super Bowl appearance at Gillette Stadium versus Everett High.
Earlier this wrestling season, Murray said he would entertain offers to either wrestle or play football at the collegiate level, but now that he has honed in on a football commitment, this season could be the stellar grappler’s last hurrah. He hopes to move past sectionals this season and become the third Red Raider in school history to take home the Division 1 State Championship title.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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