Knights to face Cashmere in semifinals

Royal 46, Chelan 7; Royal 32, 27 Freeman

ROYAL CITY - The Royal Knights will continue the defense of their 2007 Washington Interscholastic Activities Association 1A football championship Saturday at Moses Lake's Lions Field.

The Knights will face the Cashmere Bulldogs at noon in the 2008 1A state semifinals.

The 12-0 Knights are the South Central Athletic Conference (SCAC) East Division champions and defeated Chelan 46-7 in the first round.

The Knights are coming off of a 32-27 come-from-behind victory over Freeman in last weekend's quarterfinals.

Royal built a 26-6 halftime lead before Freeman rallied to take a 27-26 lead into the fourth quarter.

With a little more than six minutes to play in the game, the Knights persevered and scored the game-winning touchdown on a 15-yard run by senior wide receiver Blair Collins.

Royal starting quarterback and senior Connor Paysse sprained his ankle in the second quarter of the Knights' win over Freeman.

Paysse returned to the game in the third quarter to help lead the Knights to the victory.

Cashmere is 11-0 and coming off of a 31-7 victory over Cascade of Leavenworth in the quarterfinals.

The Bulldogs knocked off SCAC's Connell 28-13 in the first round of the playoffs.

Cashmere's win over Connell was its second of the season.

The Bulldogs knocked off Connell 19-16 on Sept. 12.

Royal defeated Connell 41-28 on Oct. 24.

Kick off for Saturday's semifinal game is scheduled for noon at Lions Field in Moses Lake.