Lots of reasons to be proud of point-a-minute Knights

Leaving the Tacoma Dome after the state championship game, Royal High School Principal Jack Hill was asked if he was from Royal.

"Yes I am," he said proudly and loudly.

There were several reasons to be proud. The Royal boys represented themselves, their school and their community very well. They played hard, worked hard and won with class.

"I know they are disappointed they did not win the state championship, but the community is still proud of them," Hill said. "We will miss the seniors next year and wish them the best as they move on. They were fun to watch."

Among those things of which Knights fans can be proud is that Royal was that rare point-a-minute team. It totaled 685 points in 14 games for a 48.9-point average. That works out to just more than a point for each minute played.

Senior kicker-wide receiver Christian Guerrero led the scoring with 156 points, but 13 other players shared the load.

Guerrero had six rushing touchdowns, 15 receiving touchdowns and 36 extra point kicks.

Quarterback Alex Myrick scored 152 points. He had 20 rushing touchdowns, scored two 2-point conversions, one kickoff return TD, two punt return TDs, and he added two scores on interception returns.

Also crossing the century mark with 130 points was running back Damien DeLaRosa with 130. He scored 18 rushing TDs, one receiving TD and two fumble return scores from his linebacking position.

Others to score were Laddie Goroski with 54 points, Brady Dixon with 46, Kent Christensen with 44, Jose Ponce with 37 (all PATs), Manny Quintero with 24, Cristian Fernandez with 12 and Jacob Lee, Luis Garcia, Jake Janett, Carter Allred and Miguel Ayala with six each.

Myrick was the all-around leader of the team and was aptly recognized. He was the South Central A Conference East all-league first team quarterback, first team defensive back and offensive most valuable player. He was named second team defensive back on the Tacoma News Tribune all-classifications (4A included) team.

Myrick was stellar at quarterback. He completed 144 of 220 passes for 66 percent, throwing only four interceptions and none in the title game. His passing gained 2,582 yards and accounted for 35 touchdowns.

Myrick spread the wealth around, with 36 passes going to Guerrero for 797 yards and 15 touchdowns and 35 to Dixon for 680 yards and eight scores.

Goroski and Kent Christensen caught 26 passes each for 485 yards and five scores and 389 yards and six scores respectively. DeLaRosa caught 13 for 178 yards and one score, and Garcia caught four passes for 36 yards.

When Myrick wasn't passing or handing off to DeLaRosa, he was running for an additional 1,330 yards and 20 touchdowns.

DeLaRosa led the rushing with 1,392 yards on 18 carries. He got 158 of them in a standout state final performance. Guerrero carried the ball 66 times for 492 yards.

All of this output led to dominance of the South Central A Conference East all-league selections. All five interior linemen and both tight ends were recognized.

Reed Lefler and Uriel Carmona made first team offensive line, Collin Christensen and Carter Christensen made second team, and Johnny Montoya made honorable mention. Dixon was the first team tight end, and Kent Christensen was honorable mention at the same position.

In addition to Myrick, the first team backfield included DeLaRosa at running back and Guerrero at wide receiver. Goroski made honorable mention at wide receiver.

The Knights also dominated the defensive selections. First team linebacker Brady Dixon was also the defensive most valuable player.

Lefler and Kent Christensen made first team down lineman, Cristian Fernandez made second team, and Emilio Bustos made honorable mention.

Marcos Morales, who was a leading tackler in every game, was named first team at linebacker. DeLaRosa was honorable mention at the same position.

Like Myrick, Goroski was named first team defensive back. Janett and Guerrero received honorable mention at the same position. Myrick was named first team kick returner.

Head coach Wiley Allred was named the league's coach of the year.