EVERETT — The Wesco Conference is investigating the Archbishop Murphy football program for allegations surrounding player eligibility.
The allegations surfaced at a meeting between the Wesco Athletic Directors on Sept. 9, according to the meeting’s minutes provided to The Herald. The alleged violation was also submitted to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA).
Item 15 in the minutes reads: “Concern raised between 2 Wesco schools and eligibility. Concern is that a Wesco coach allegedly coached a 7-on-7 team and athletes followed a coach to play at alleged school. This complaint was investigated by the school and replied that this coach did not coach the 7-on-7 team. The school making the allegations didn’t agree and filed the alleged violation to the WIAA portal, which the other school has 5 business days to respond to.
“Alleged school shared some of his findings after speaking with the coach and families involved. Alleged school did all the due diligence regarding the transfer student to make sure he was eligible prior to allowing him to play on the varsity team, including running everything by the WIAA.
“This school will follow up in writing to violation filed with WIAA. A Wesco committee will be formed to review the violation and rebuttal. The Wesco committee recommendation will be sent to District 1 Executive Board who will hear it, who will then forward their recommendation to WIAA Executive Board.”
Wesco President Don Dalziel confirmed Archbishop Murphy as the alleged school, and the investigation is ongoing as of Friday, according to Dalziel, who declined to comment further. The coach who allegedly coached the 7-on-7 team that athletes followed is currently on the Archbishop Murphy football staff, according to an area source with knowledge of the situation, granted anonymity to speak freely on the subject without fear of repercussions.
According to the meeting minutes, Archbishop Murphy denied the allegation that one of their coaches coached for the 7-on-7 team.
The investigation could potentially result in Archbishop Murphy forfeiting games played with an ineligible player, but the results are pending. The WIAA declined to provide a representative to speak to The Herald when approached at the administration’s office in Renton on Friday.
Archbishop Murphy athletic director Jeff Latta was not available for comment when The Herald stopped by the school on Friday, but Director of Admissions Jana James provided a statement on behalf of the school and athletic program.
“Archbishop Murphy High School remains committed to protecting the rights and eligibility of its student athletes while maintaining full compliance with Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) rules,” the statement reads. “The school continues to challenge an eligibility determination that it believes is not supported by the evidence and remains committed to a fair and transparent review process.
“As this matter remains in the appeals process, we will not be participating in interviews or providing additional comments at this time.”
The 7-on-7 Program
Multiple area coaches claim the 7-on-7 football program involved in the allegations is “Wipe Me Down Boyz,” whose website’s ‘About’ page reads: “WMBD was built to give athletes more than tournament exposure. We develop football players through elite coaching, intentional competition, and a culture built on discipline, accountability, and family.”
The 7-on-7 version of football is a non-contact, passing-focused offseason game popular among youth and high school players.
Ryan Clary, co-founder/owner of the 7-on-7 program in question, previously labeled himself as Archbishop Murphy’s College Liaison on his X profile, but Archbishop Murphy coach Joe Cronin said Clary was never an employee at the school.
“He put on his Twitter handle that he was doing all this stuff, but he was never employed by the school,” Cronin told The Herald over the phone on Friday. “And I think that ruffled, obviously, some people looking and going ‘What’s going on?’ or ‘What’s happening?’ And no, he was not employed by the school.”
Despite Clary not being employed by the school, two area coaches claimed Clary would frequently be on the sideline during Archbishop Murphy games.
“What we saw was that he was like an Archbishop Murphy College Liaison, not a coach, but he was on their sidelines (on a lot of) Fridays,” one of the area coaches said.
Cronin acknowledged Clary may have been present on the sidelines, but could not definitively confirm.
“He could have easily been on the sidelines for a game, I don’t know,” Cronin said. “Not in a coaching capacity, but just kind of hanging out.”
The allegations stem from the belief that Archbishop Murphy utilized its connection with Clary, and that at least one current Wildcats coach joined the “Wipe Me Down Boyz” staff to build relationships with players and encourage them to enroll at Archbishop Murphy, which the school denied.
Clary now has “College Liaison | Mt. Tahoma HS” in his X profile, and The Herald spotted him on the sideline during Mount Tahoma’s 26-3 win against Gig Harbor at George Nordi Field in Tacoma on Friday.
Clary said he did not hold an official role with Archbishop Murphy.
“I haven’t been there in, like, three years,” Clary told The Herald on the field after Friday’s game. “I just helped some of the kids with college recruiting. … I haven’t been there in two years.”
In an X post from Clary’s account on Feb. 25, 2025, he wrote: “What a time to be at Archbishop Murphy HS so far 4 athletes have 25 combined D1 offers and more are on the way (eyes emoji) not to bad (sic) for a school of less than 500 that runs the Wing T (shrug emoticon),” followed by the hashtag “#GoWildcats.”
Clary also tagged the Archbishop Murphy Athletics account as well as an account under Cronin’s name in a post from June 3, 2023 that thanked 23 colleges for visiting the school during the month of May.
The Player
The player whose eligibility is in question is not named publicly, but Cronin confirmed the investigation involves the team’s starting quarterback. The quarterback transferred to Archbishop Murphy from Woodinville High School, and his involvement with “Wipe Me Down Boyz” is publicly documented on the club’s Instagram account as well as the player’s Hudl profile, as of publication.
The quarterback played in Archbishop Murphy’s first four games, but did not participate in the 51-7 win against Squalicum on Oct. 2 or the 24-17 win against Lynden Christian on Oct. 8, which is the most recent game the Wildcats played this season.
“I can’t really comment on it, but yeah, he hasn’t been able to play the last few weeks, which is unfortunate for him. He’s an awesome kid, and he’s going through a bad situation right now,” Cronin said. “… It’s kind of, you know, out of our hands. So they’re going through the processes they need to go through and figuring all of that out.”
The Schedule
Archbishop Murphy had league matchups against Sultan and Lakewood scheduled for Oct. 16 and 23, respectively, but each program opted not to play the Wildcats this season. Cronin believes those games will be marked as forfeits, but a source with knowledge of the situation shared that the Northwest Conference has a rule that allows the bottom two teams to opt out of playing the top two league teams if they choose to, with the caveat that they would not be eligible to win the league title and the opponent would win any head-to-head tiebreaker.
As of publication, the Northwest Conference standings do not reflect the opt-out matchups as forfeits.
“I’m not privy to those conversations. Those are athletic director deals,” Cronin said. “(Sultan and Lakewood) opted to not play us and forfeit, and then we tried to find other games in the meantime, and couldn’t find any.”
The Wildcats’ next game is currently scheduled against Lynden at Terry Ennis Stadium on the Archbishop Murphy campus on Oct. 30.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
