Royal rallies past Kiona-Benton

Royal 48, Kiona-Benton 20; Warden 28, Highland 20

ROYAL — The Royal Knights overcame four turnovers on their first four possessions Friday night to knock off visiting Kiona-Benton 48-20 for the South Central Athletic Conference victory.

Although Royal stayed unbeaten in conference play with the victory, head coach Wiley Allred said his team needs to improve offensively.

“We started the game with four turnovers on our first four possessions,” he said. “The offensive line blocked well, we just didn’t protect the ball very well.”

While Royal’s turnovers plagued the Knights during the first half, Royal’s pass defense struggled throughout the contest, Allred said.

“We need to work on our pass defense,” he said. “They exposed some stuff. We have a lot to work on.”

Although Royal gave the ball away four times during the first half, the Knights took the ball away four times from the Bears, Allred said.

“Jeremy Edwards had two interceptions and we had four as a team,” he said.

The Knights return to action Friday night when they travel to River View to take on the Panthers.

Although his Knights are 3-0 in South Central Athletic Conference play, Allred said Friday’s contest will be a tough one.

“Our jobs will be cut out for us this week against River View,” he said. “We have to shore up some things on defense and protect the football.”

Warden 28, Highland

COWICHE, Wash. — Warden scored a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to lead 14-7 at halftime and the Cougars rolled to the non-conference victory over the Highland Scotties.

Warden senior quarterback Arturo Reyes connected on a 17-yard touchdown pass to Carmelo Hansen for Warden’s first score of the contest as the Cougars earned their second victory of the season to improve to 2-4 overall.

With Warden leading 7-0 following Reyes’ touchdown pass to Hansen, Reyes scored on an eight-yard touchdown run to give the Cougars a 14-0 lead.

After Reyes’ rush gave Warden a two-touchdown lead, Highland running back Forrest Kopta got the Scotties on the scoreboard when he took one of his game-high 20 carries 43 yards for a touchdown. Kopta ran for 211 yards Friday night before leaving Friday night’s game in the third quarter with an ankle injury and Warden led 14-7 at the break.

While Warden led 14-7 at the half, Highland answered to start the third quarter when Tyler Hakala tied the game with a seven-yard touchdown run.

Warden would respond with a pair of touchdown runs to take a 28-14 lead before holding on for the 28-20 victory.