Royal Knights to face first test of football season
Royal's Payton Stakkeland, a 6-1, 210 sophomore tackle, looks for a block at the corner as tailback Christian Guerrero prepares to receive a handoff from quarterback Alex Myrick against Warden.
Center Carter Christensen of Royal (50) gives quarterback Alex Myrick a boost toward the goal line against Warden.
ROYAL CITY - Having disposed of Cascade, Quincy and Warden by a combined 152-20, the Royal High Knights look like the class of the state in 1A football.
The Zillah Leopards of the South Central A Conference West will have something to say about that this Friday. They are 3-0 and will roll into Royal fresh off a 49-18 spanking of Naches.
"They're playing good football," Royal coach Wiley Allred said. "They're going to be a state playoff team."
The outcome will likely favor the better defense. Both offenses are hot, especially Royal's.
The Knights exploded for 41 second-period points in a 61-0 win over Warden. All of the scoring came in the first half. With 371 total yards by half-time, the Knights shut things down in the second half, playing reserves liberally.
Like Royal, Zillah has a dual-threat quarterback. Jace McKay passed for three touchdowns and ran for one against Naches. His favorite receiver, with two scores was Brady Widner. Kurt Calhoun carried the ball 20 times for 137 rushing yards.
"They're going to be a tough team," Allred said. "And they're going to get tougher from here on out."
Meanwhile, Royal gave Warden a rude welcome back to the SCAC East. No matter what the Knights did, it seemed every first-half play scored.
Damien Delarosa scored three touchdowns in the first quarter. He scored twice on the run and once at the end of an Alex Myrick pass.
Four different players scored in the second quarter. Myrick and Christian Guerrero scored twice each, and Laddie Goroski and Manny Quintero scored once each.
With 281 rushing yards, the Knights rarely called on Myrick to throw the ball. He completed seven of 11 passes for 130 yards and one score. Chase Christensen saw playing time at the helm, completing two of four passes for 18 yards.
Warden completed 13 of 27 passes but was intercepted by the Knights six times.
Goroski made three of the interceptions. Guerrero, Brady Dixon and Jake Janett had one each
The defensive bulwark of the night once again was tackle Marcos Morales. He led with eight stops.
"He was around all of their screens," Allred said. "We got a lot of pressure on their quarterback from Reed Lefler, Carter Christensen, Collin Christensen and Cristian Fernandez."
Delarosa led Royal rushers with 95 yards, while Myrick had 86. Other rushers for Royal were Guerrero, 7-54, Quintero, 7-28, Fernandez, 1-2, Miguel Ayala, 5-22, and Gerard Weyns, 1-2.
Jake Janett led the receivers with 55 yards on one catch. Others were Brady Dixon, 1-20, DelaRosa, 1-22, Goroski, 1-12, Kent Christensen, 1-13, Guerrero, 1-8, Tanner Christensen, 1-9, and Luis Garcia, 1-9.