Royal to battle Goldendale

1A football playoffs come to Moses Lake

ROYAL CITY - The Royal High School Knights football team will host the visiting Goldendale Timberwolves tonight in a play-in game for the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) playoffs.

The Knights are a perfect 9-0 this season and are the South Central Athletic Conference (SCAC) East Division champions and the conference's top seed.

Goldendale is the fourth seed from the SCAC West Division and will travel to Royal in a loser-out game to qualify for the playoffs.

Royal is coming off of a 48-7 victory over the Columbia-Burbank Coyotes.

The Knights are led on offense by senior quarterback Connor Paysse.

Paysse has thrown for more than 1,500 yards this season for the top-ranked Knights. The senior quarterback has also thrown 18 touchdowns.

The Royal Knights have a variety of offensive weapons, perhaps none being more dangerous than senior Blair Collins.

In last week's win over Columbia-Burbank, Collins moved into second place in the national high school record books when he returned his seventh punt return for a touchdown this season.

Collins returned two punts for scores in the victory. He also ran for a 34-yard score and caught a 57-yard touchdown pass from Paysse.

The Royal Knights are the defending WIAA 1A state football champions and if head coach Wiley Allred and the Knights wish to repeat, they must first knock off the Timberwolves tonight.

Kick off for tonight's game is scheduled for 7 p.m.

1A Football

MOSES LAKE - Teams from the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association's 1A classification will head to Moses Lake and Lions Field Saturday to qualify for the state football playoffs.

There will be three games held at Lions Field throughout the day.

Saturday's action at Lions Field begins at 1 p.m. when the Chelan High School Goats take on the Lakeside High School Eagles

Chelan is 6-2 on the season and Lakeside is 6-3.

The second contest of the day will feature the Omak High School Pioneers and the Freeman High School Scotties.

Omak heads into Saturday's game with a 4-4 record and Freeman is 7-1.

Kick off for the Omak-Freeman game is scheduled for 4 p.m.

The final game of the night is between the Chewelah High School Cougars and the Cascade (of Leavenworth) Kodiaks.

Cascade enters Saturday night's playoff game with a 7-1 record and Chewelah is 4-4.

Kick off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

All Saturday 1A football games will be televised locally on Northland Cable channel 3.