Point-a-minute Knights blast River View, 76-0
River View running back Tanner Brown (2) finds himself in a whole lot of trouble as, several Knights, including Juan Hernandez (76) and Adrian Banda-Contreras (52) close in.
ROYAL CITY — Nothing went wrong for Royal Friday night, and nothing went right for River View. The result was a 76-0 score in their prep football game.
“No starters played in the second half. We put in everyone who was eligible to play,” Royal coach Wiley Allred said.
This was a mismatch from the start, which is odd, considering that River View had been a league contender for several years.
The unbeaten Knights move on to a game at Kiona-Benton this Friday. No telling what will happen. The Bears have blasted some teams and have been blasted by others.
The Bears’ latest result was a 47-6 loss to Connell last Friday. Before then they were averaging 47 points per game.
“Ki-Be is loaded with good athletes everywhere. They will be tough at their place,” Allred said.
Ki-Be has also lost to Cashmere, 46-22.
River View simply could not move the ball last Friday. The Panthers passed for 40 yards, but they lost 61 running the ball and ended up with a total offense of minus-21 yards.
“The defensive line did a great job, including Sawyer Stakkeland, Juan Hernandez, Hunter Follett, Adrian Trinidad and Derek Allatorre,” Allred said. “Juan Hernandez has been very good for us.”
Stakkeland also had a good night on offense at tight end. He caught three passes for 54 yards and one touchdown.
“It was nice to get Sawyer Stakkeland involved in the offense,” Allred said.
Royal’s starters were not needed after one half, indeed. They probably weren’t needed after one quarter, with the score 21-0. But they need playing to continue to prepare for the post-season, when they assuredly will run into tougher competition.
The rout was complete by half-time, with Royal leading 56-0. And Royal’s leading rusher, Joe Lang, carried only four times for 23 yards.
Senior receiver-defensive back Jose Ponce led the scoring with two receiving touchdowns and eight extra point kicks. Junior Quarterback Kaden Jenks had another brilliant effort, connecting on 11 of 15 passes for 218 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. Team total offense was 436 yards.
The scoring summary was:
1st quarter
Ponce 1-yard pass from Jenks.
Sam Christensen 30-yard pass from Jenks.
Stakkeland 17-yard pass from Jenks.
2nd quarter
Sam Christensen 15-yard pass from Jenks.
Ponce 12-yard pass from Jenks.
Johnny Garcia 1-yard fumble return.
Christensen, 23-yard fumble return.
Jenks 3-yard run.
3rd quarter
Juan Niebla 4-yard run.
Danny Cuevas 1-yard run.
4th quarter
Isaac Ellis 41-yard run.
Friday’s scoring total pushed the Royal average to 52 points per game, which is more than a point a minute. With Ki-Be, Burbank and Cascade of Leavenworth (2-4) left in the regular season, there is a good chance they’ll finish as a point-a-minute club.
Royal’s leading rusher was junior Juan Niebla with 54 yards on two carries. Isaac Ellis carried one time for 41 yards. Juan Garcia got 36 yards on one carry and Cuevas got 27 yards on three carries.
The leading receivers, with three catches each were the senior Ponce, the junior Stakkeland and the junior Sam Christensen.
From his defensive back post, Sam Christensen led the defense with three tackles and four assists. Senior Steven Toro had three tackles.
Sam Christensen, Carson Gilbert, Juan Garcia, Victor Villanueva and senior Alexis Ramos recovered one River View fumble each.