Knights lands 11 on football 1st team

SOUTH COUNTY — As expected, Royal and Connell dominated the selections to South Central A Conference East all-league prep football team.

Wahluke, which battled to third place in the shadows of the giants, was able to pick off one first team spot. Senior Felix Jimenez was named at offensive tackle.

A notable missing name on the No. 1 defensive team was Valente Cortez of Royal. He was the leading tackler on the best defensive team in the state. He didn’t play full games because of Royal’s scoring machine. So he didn’t rack up stats.

But Cortez was placed on the first team offensive line, alongside Royal teammate Hunter Follett, a senior. And he was named to the second team defense.

Two Royal boys who made both first teams were seniors Joe Lang and Sam Christensen. Lang made it at running back and defensive back, Christensen at wide receiver and defensive back.

Junior Kaden Jenks was named the first team quarterback, and he was named the league’s offensive player of the year. Coach of the year was Royal’s Wiley Allred, and Wahluke won the sportsmanship award.

Royal’s first team selections included Jose Ponce at wide receiver. Junior Sawyer Stakkeland was named a down lineman on defense. Junior Juan Hernandez got the same distinction. Senior Carson Gilbert was named at linebacker.

The second team offense included senior running back Jason Cruz of Wahluke, senior offensive lineman Luis Contreras of Wahluke, senior offensive lineman Hugo Ledezma of Royal, tight end Sawyer Stakkeland of Royal, punter Sam Christensen of Royal and return specialist Ponce.

The second team defense had down lineman David Pineda of Wahluke, linebacker Daniel Corrales of Wahluke, down lineman Hunter Follett of Royal, linebacker Andy Villafana of Royal and defensive back Ponce.

Royal landed boys on 19 all-star spots overall. Second-place Connell had 16.