Albertson runs Royal past River View

Kiona-Benton 28, Warden 6

KENNEWICK, Wash. — Royal stayed perfect in South Central Athletic Conference play Friday night and improved to 6-1 overall when senior quarterback Marc Albertson scored on a 20-yard touchdown run with just 17 seconds remaining to lift the Knight to a 42-35 road win over River View.

Royal fell being 21-0 early in the second quarter and needed a 35-point, second-half outburst to find a way past a tenacious River View team.

River View jumped on the Knights early with a pair of first -quarter touchdowns to take a 14-0 lead over the defending conference champions. River View’s first score of the contest came on a 10-yard touchdown pass to Juston Grow from Matt Wilhelm and the second came on an 18-yard touchdown run from Chance Watt.

The Panthers pushed their lead to 21-0 when Wilhelm scored on a two-yard touchdown run.

While the Knights got off to a sluggish start Friday night, Royal began to show signs of life as time on the first half continued to run out. Albertson connected with Kyle Spartveit from 25 yards out for Royal’s only score of the first half and the Knights went into the locker room trailing 21-7 on the road.

The opening of the second half fared little better for the Knights when Grow caught his second touchdown pass of the night for a 28-7 River View lead.

Albertson and Royal responded with scores on back-to-back possessions for the Knights. Royal scored on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Albertson to senior wide receiver Ben Singer to cut the deficit to 28-14.

After Royal’s defense kept River View off the scoreboard, Alberston helped the Knights pull within a possession of River View when he connected with Kris Rice from eight yards out for another Royal touchdown and the Knights trailed 28-21.

With the Knights trailing by a score early in the fourth quarter, Royal used a little trickery to pull even with the Panthers.

Alberston took the snap from center early in the fourth quarter and dropped back. The Royal quarterback found Spartveit behind the line of scrimmage. Spartveit fielded the pass from Albertson and threw one of his own to Singer who caught it and ran 83-yards for the game-tying touchdown.

While Royal pulled even with the double pass, the Panthers reclaimed their lead when Brendan Hoch hauled in an 11-yard touchdown pass from Wilhelm and River View led 35-28.

Royal pulled even for the second time on their next possession when senior running back Will Christensen scored on a 17-yard touchdown run to tie the game 35-35, setting up Albertson’s game-winner a few minutes later.

Christensen was dominant on the ground, rushing for 162 yards on just 16 carries. Singer finished with 154 yards receiving with just 6 catches.

Royal’s win over River View sets up a pivotal matchup Friday night with conference co-leader and second-ranked Connell Friday night in Royal City.

Connell and Royal will likely decide the South Central Athletic Conference championship Friday night as both schools enter with 4-0 conference records. The opening kick off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Kiona-Benton 28, Warden 6

BENTON CITY, Wash. — Warden senior quarterback Arturo Reyes provided the Cougars’ only offensive spark Friday night when he scored on a one-yard touchdown run late in the contest, but the damage had already been done.

Reyes’ scoring run broke up Kiona-Benton’s shut-out bid, but the Bears led 28-0 by the time Reyes and Warden found the end zone.

While Warden scored late, head coach Erik Skone said he team was not without their chances.

“Overall we didn’t play too bad. We played decent,” he said. “We got inside the red zone, we just didn’t execute to put points on the board.”

Kiona-Benton and first-year head coach Charlie Hobbick built what would become an insurmountable lead in the first quarter when quarterback Matt Mason threw a pair of touchdown passes.

Mason connected with Matt McCallum from 20 yards out in the first quarter and with Mike Salyers from 10 yards out in the second quarter to give the Bears a 14-0 lead.

Kiona-Benton led 21-0 at the half and took a 28-0 lead into the fourth quarter before Reyes’ touchdown put Warden on the scoreboard.

Reyes finished the night 21-of-43 for 170 yards and rushed 10 times for 33 yards to lead the Cougars in both categories, Skone said.

“We played really sporadic,” Skone said. “We would get four good plays in a row and then we would have a drop. Or we wouldn’t execute to move the ball into the end zone.”

Warden will host conference rival River View at 7 p.m. Friday night.