Wheeler’s Murray loves to Run the Ball

UNION TWP. -- Levi Murray was a soccer player as a lad. He ran around and kicked the ball. Then he ran around and kicked the ball some more.
His only connection to America’s version of football was an Indianapolis Colts cap he wore around his neighborhood.
His father, Bryan, grew up in Greencastle, which made him a big fan of Peyton Manning and the boys in blue a generation ago. Watching the Colts on television, something dramatically changed for Levi.
“I absolutely fell in love with football,” said Murray, Wheeler’s standout junior running back.
He played some Junior Bulldogs football in Crown Point, but it was rather nondescript. Nothing special. Nothing that suggested what was to come.
Then he started playing Pop Warner football for his local community team.
They were trailing Warsaw by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter when his coach finally put him in the backfield.
Murray scored three touchdowns to help secure the victory.
That moment changed everything.
“My coach pulled me to the side after the game,” Murray said. “He told me, ‘You’re going to be something special.’ That’s when I knew what I wanted to do.
“I wanted to be a running back.”
He played sparingly as a freshman at Wheeler. But last year, when he got the ball, people started to smile.
Murray rushed for more than 1,000 yards and led the Bearcats’ offense until the final week of the Greater South Shore Conference season, when Wheeler played Griffith for the league championship.
While running down the sideline, Murray was hit by a Panther — helmet to helmet — and suffered a concussion that ended his season. He was unable to play against Lake Station or Andrean in sectional competition.
“That’s what I want more than anything,” Murray said. “I want to compete in the postseason this year.”
So far, Murray and the Bearcats are doing plenty to suggest they’ll be a postseason factor.
Wheeler is tied for 12th in the state in scoring average, averaging 49 points per game through its first two games against South Central and Kankakee Valley.
Murray has rushed for 316 yards and seven touchdowns, although he has spent much of the second half of both games on the bench because of what the scoreboard was saying on those Friday nights.
He ranks 18th in the state in rushing yards.
Wheeler’s first-year coach is Josh Wissing, a Fort Wayne native who played at state power Bishop Dwenger. In 1997, he was part of the Saints team that played Griffith in the Class 4A semistate.
The power went out, delaying the game several hours. Griffith eventually won and went on to dominate the state championship game.
“I still think we were better,” Wissing said. “Had the power not gone out, we would have beat them.”
Griffith defeated Hamilton Southeastern 49-7 in the state final.
Wissing went on to play at DePauw before becoming an assistant coach at Valparaiso University. He later coached at Portage for eight years, Merrillville for six and Chesterton for one.
He was hired at Wheeler in March.
“The first thing I told the guys was we have to get in the weight room,” Wissing said. “I keep telling them to ‘Be Cold.’ That’s our motto. You win championships when it’s 32 degrees or colder. We have to learn to play and win when it’s cold.”
Wissing noticed Murray right away.
Levi was a leader — in the locker room, in the hallway, in the weight room and in the classroom.
Murray also owns a 3.9 GPA.
“I have a passion for learning,” Murray said. “Both of my parents always tell me they were good students, so I want to be like them.”
Like many high school football players, Murray wants to play college football.
And if he keeps putting up numbers like these each Friday night, there should be plenty of suitors.
For now, though, Murray has something else on his mind: making sure his season doesn’t end before the postseason begins.
The Bearcats travel to River Forest on Friday night.

By Steve Hanlon
Heartland Sports Network