3 touches, 3 TDs Royal Knights roll over Cascade 61-0

ROYAL CITY — Homecoming is known as fireworks night at Nielsen Stadium and, in front of the alums last Friday, the Royal High football team lit up Cascade of Leavenworth, 61-0.

With 7:26 gone in the first quarter, the score was 21-0, and Royal had only 21 yards of total offense. That was because, with a strong wind at his back, Jose Ponce put the Kodiaks in a hole on three straight kickoffs. The defense and that wind did the rest.

Cascade’s first possession ended with fourth-and-8 at the Cascade 12-yard line. The punt, into the wind, was run back 25 yards to the end zone by Joe Lang. The Knights had seven points on zero total yards.

Starting from the 20 again, Cascade went minus yardage and punted again. The ball ended up at the Cascade 21.

On the next play, wide receiver Sam Christensen caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Kaden Jenks. The score was 14-0 with only 21 yards of offense.

Ponce put Cascade on the 20 again. Again the defense pushed the Kodiaks backward. This time they fumbled the punt snap, and Adrian Trinidad returned the ball 10 yards for the score. It was 21-0 with only 21 yards of offense.

It was the night before Halloween, and the Kodiaks were having a bad dream. And it was a night that would have made a casual football fan chuckle.

“Yes, kind of wild,” coach Wiley Allred said.

The last touchdown before halftime was a gift from the football gods. Royal had just gone ahead 49-0 with seven seconds left on the clock. After the kickoff, which went out of bounds, Cascade had the ball on its own 40 with still seven seconds left on the clock.

The Kodiaks went left on a sweep. It appeared the half was over as one Knight defender hit the ball carrier, but a hit by a second defender popped the ball loose. Trinidad picked it up and, with a convoy of blockers, ran the ball to the end zone.

Another peculiar occurrence was the Lang touchdown that made the score 36-0. It had a bit of Houdini to it. Lang caught a pass from Jenks in the left flat, and was undercut immediately by a defender in front of the Royal bench and a side judge.

Lang went down sort of sideways and backwards and appeared to be done. But he put down his free hand, just as his posterior was about to touch down, got back up and covered the 53 yards to the end zone.

The pass that made the score 43-0 was sort of persistence. Jenks missed on pretty much the same play with first down on the Royal 20. Throwing into the wind, he put some force behind the ball and overshot everybody.

On third-and-7 from the 23, coach Wiley Allred called for a pass into the same area again. Again Jenks put some muscle behind the ball. It hit wide receiver Corbin Christensen, clear of defenders by 10 yards, in stride at about midfield. He was gone.

The wildest influence on the contest was the wind. Going with it, Ponce kicked through the end zone. Going against it, he didn’t even see the end zone. He was perfect on PATs with the wind, and went 3-for-4 into it.

Ponce puts a little draw into his PAT kicks. The wind turned the draws into hooks. The most peculiar one might make the ESPN Highlights if anybody filmed it.

Ponce put his foot into the ball hard. It went high down the middle and appeared to be good. Then the wind stopped right over the crossbar about 15 feet, pushed it backward and to the left.

“I’m not sure if it went over the bar,” the referee said. “It was down the middle, and then it just came back.”

The scores that were rather routine were a 17-yard run by Lang, a safety by Carson Gilbert, a 20-yard fourth down run by Jenks and a 77-yard run by Danny Cuevas that allowed the Royal subs to win the second half 7-0.

Oddities aside, this was another Royal pounding. The defense was unbelievable. Not only did the Knights shut out the Kodiaks, they kept them to a total offense of minus-11 yards and minus-19 rushing.

“Our two inside linebackers – Valente Cortez, Andy Villafana - have really improved this year,” Allred said. “They were in the backfield all night.”

The defense was led by Trinidad with four solo tackles and three assists. Cuevas had three and three, Cortez had three and two, and Carson Gilbert had three and one.

Sawyer Stakkeland went 2-2, Villafana 2-3, and Derek Alatorre, Isaac Ellis, Sam Christensen and Lang all had one tackle. Tyler Dorsing, Houston Miller and Raynor Beierle had two assists each, and Steven Toro had one.

Victor Villanueva had a pass interception.

“Danny Cuevas and Juan Hernandez had outstanding defensive games. Adrian Trinidad scored twice on defense,” Allred said.

The offense produced 395 yards, 200 through the air on 9-12 passing by Jenks. He threw for three touchdowns and was not intercepted.

Cuevas led the rushers with 99 yards on five carries. Lang went 10-64. Lang caught three passes for 80 yards, Corbin Christensen had the touchdown grab, Sam Christensen went 3-30 and Ponce logged 2-13.

Royal did not punt.