Royal Knights football beats Quincy at home

ROYAL CITY - Alex Myrick passed for three touchdowns, ran for two, and returned an interception 85 yards for another score to lead the Royal Knights to a home win over Quincy Friday.

A 3-yard pass from Dallas Bassett to John Lindquist was the only score for the Jacks in the lopsided loss.

"We had four turnovers in the first half and Royal converted all of them into touchdowns," coach Stephen Wallace said. "In the second half we had one turnover and answered with a three and out defensive stop. However, that fumble stopped another good drive (12 play for 46 yards to the Knights 26 yard line)."

Royal put 13 points on the board in the first quarter as Myrick hooked up twice with Christian Guerrero. The Knights added 19 in the second on two Myrick short TD runs and a Myrick 85-yard interception return to take a 32-0 lead at intermission. The two turnovers in the last three minutes of the half didn't help the Jacks cause as the team headed into the locker room to regroup during halftime.

"We talked to the kids about cutting down our mental errors and told them we needed to flush the first half and get focused on playing a better second half," Wallace said. "We made a few adjustments, but mostly it was about our players playing at a higher level mentally. Physically we have the tools, we just needed them to stay focused on the basics and not try to over-think things."

The pep talked resonated within the Jacks during the break as Quincy came out determined to overcome their mistakes.

And the Jacks did just that as Quincy held Royal to seven second half points, while putting six on the board themselves to avoid the shut out.

"Royal was very efficient offensively converting several tough third downs. Myrick did a great job of keeping plays going with his legs long enough for a receiver to open up. He is a very talented kid with lots of good football instincts," Wallace said. "We had several opportunities to make big plays but just missed. The blocking and timing just wasn't there on our play action and other passes. We'll need to be better at both as we enter league play this Friday against  Cascade."

Myrick finished with 16 completions in 26 attempts for 207 yards.

The Jacks starting quarterback Jacob Durfee was 0-4 for zero yards. Backup John Lindquist completed two of three passes for 17 yards.

Royal's ground attack was led by Damian De LaRosa who had 17 carries for 110 yards.

Durfee finished with 80 on 17 carries for Quincy.

The Jacks are back on the gridiron Friday when Quincy travels to Leavenworth to take on the Cascade Kodiaks.

The Knights travel to Warden for a game against the Cougars. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.