Chiefs to host Knights

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake High School and Royal High School will meet on the gridiron at 5 p.m. Tuesday afternoon when the Chiefs host the Knights at Lions Field for a spring football jamboree.

The Chiefs and the Knights will battle each other in a scrimmage style of play, moving the ball between the hash marks and starting at their opponent’s 40-yard line.

Moses Lake head coach Greg Kittrell said both schools will have an opportunity to see their offenses and defenses take the field.

“We will get between 35 and 50 (total) snaps,” he said.

The Knights and the Chiefs face similar problems this spring. Both schools must replace conference players of the year lost to graduation.

Royal must replace South Central Athletic Conference offensive player of the year winner Blair Collins and the Chiefs must replace Columbia Division co-Player of the Year Josh Loera.

Collins helped lead the Knights into the semifinals of the 1A state tournament while setting numerous punt return records in the process.

Loera helped the Chiefs into the postseason before a play-in game loss to Big Nine cross-division Walla Walla. 

Although the Chiefs must replace Loera at quarterback, Kittrell said Loera’s possible successors are performing well in spring practices.

“Dylan Signorelli and Mitch Hill are probably the two leading candidates (for the position) with Signorelli having the inside track,” he said. “They are looking good.”

With the graduation of Loera, Kittrell said he believes the transition to a new quarterback will come smoothly.

“Whenever you have a new quarterback, that is the first thing people are going to look at,” he said. “Dylan has played a lot of football at quarterback and we expect the transition to be smooth.”

Although the Chiefs must replace players at numerous positions including quarterback, Kittrell said he is confident his team will adjust.

“The team chemistry is so great with this team,” he said. “We have 34 seniors out, which is crazy. They are one of those teams you occasionally get where they all hang out together, they are all friends. They are fun to be around and I expect to see that all year.”