Royal wins in tight battle of unbeatens

ROYAL CITY — Looking at the score only after Friday night’s prep football game between Connell and Royal, you’d think the teams were evenly matched. Royal was superior.

The Knights scored first and last to win, 27-20, over the formerly unbeaten Eagles. But the Eagles were tough in that they hung around and even led in the fourth quarter.

The Knights scored the winning touchdown on a drive that started at their 42-yard line. Joe Lang bulled in from the Connell 1.

“Joe ran tough,” coach Wiley Allred said.

After two missed extra points earlier, Allred went for 2-point conversion that Sawyer Stakkeland scored on a pass from Jenks.

The Knights won after safety Kaden Jenks intercepted the Eagles during a double pass attempt late in the game.

Royal will play at Nielsen again this Friday. Cashmere, which was ripped by Connell, 45-7, will be here for a non-league matchup.

The best news from Friday’s game for the Knights was that they played a quality team for once and prevailed. They had defeated two over-matched opponents by 93 points preparing for the showdown at Nielsen Memorial Stadium.

Other good news was that the Knights were able to discover the areas on offense and defense they need to improve. They could have run away before halftime except for their own mistakes.

“I felt we left a couple of possible touchdowns on the field in the first half,” Allred said.

It’s likely Allred will work the boys this week on offensive execution. And he will likely focus on coverage breakdowns in the secondary.

The Knights scored with just more than three minutes left in the half to lead 19-10. They stuffed Connell on its next possession and forced a punt that gave Royal the ball on the Royal 35-yard line.

The Knights made it to the end zone with about a minute left on a pass, but the officials flagged a Royal wide receiver for an illegal block and nullified the score.

The official appeared to be the same flag-happy official the Knights encountered in the game with Naches. If not, then there are two officials who have it in for Royal’s mighty mite pass catchers.

The next series of downs included a run that went nowhere and, on fourth and three from the Eagle 14, Royal gave up the ball on downs.

“We need more consistent blocking,” coach Wiley Allred said.

On the other hand, he added: “Give Connell credit as well.”

For a while, it looked like Connell was overmatched, as were Ephrata and Naches. The Knights kicked off and then choked off the Eagles’ first drive in three plays.

Royal scored on its first possession, but a missed extra point sort of indicated the frustration that would come. The touchdown came on a 17-yard pass from the quarterback Jenks to wide receiver Jose Ponce slanting right to left over the middle.

Royal got the ball back quickly and started to drive goalward, but a fumble set Connell up with good field position. The Eagles scored to make it 7-6 at the end of one quarter.

Royal roared back to take the lead, 13-7, on a 23-yard pass from Jenks to wide receive Sam Christensen in the left corner of the end zone on a wheel route.

Jenks rolled to his left on the play. It looked as if he was going to be shut down by two defenders, but he found a passing lane between them to Christensen, who caught the ball in his mid-section and fell to the ground.

Connell battled to set up a 31-yard field goal that made it, 13-10.

On the next possession, the Knights put the ball in the end zone in two plays. The score came on a 64-yard hookup between Jenks and Christensen.

Jenks found Christensen slanting left to right about 25 yards out and hit him in stride. Christensen made two critical cuts as he outran the defenders. The last was to the left and caused the final defender to shoot past him.

Royal got the ball back again with another stop by its mighty defense, but the blocking penalty killed the drive and kept Connell alive.

“We are happy with the win but quite frustrated at our execution,” Allred said.

Encouraged by Royal’s failure to score, Connell fought harder in the second half and gave the unbeaten, top-ranked Knights a scare. The Eagles scored a touchdown in the third period to close the gap to 19-17 and field goal in the fourth to take a 19-17 lead. The Knights and Lang and then struck for the win.

Royal dominated physically, and that showed in the box score. The Knights churned for 381 yards. Connell had 234.

Lang led all rushers with 102 yards on 17 carries. Connell’s top ball runner gained 28 yards, and the Eagles’ quarterback lost nine yards. Jenks outrushed all of the Eagle runners with 42 yards.

Royal had 19 first downs to 15 for the Eagles. The Knights converted two fourth down plays. The Eagles converted none.

For the Knights, Jenks completed 13 of 25 passes for 238 yards with one interception. Connell hit on 10 of 22 passes for 117 yards and no scores.

Except for an occasional lapse that cost big, the Knights’ defense was as tough as usual. It was a good gang-tackling night, with Royal recording 27 assists.

Sam Christensen was as brilliant on defense as on offense. He made six solo tackles, one assist and one tackle for loss.

“Sam had an excellent night blocking, as well as overall play,” Allred said.

The big defensive night belonged to Carson Gilbert. He had five solos, six assists and four tackles for loss.

“He is a great effort player,”Allred said.

Jenks made five solos and three assists. Valente Cortez had two solos and three assists.

Allred’s defensive linemen didn’t score many tackles, but they pressured the Connell offense all night, especially the quarterback. They made the tackles possible for others.

“Our guys played with great effort and composure for the most part,” Allred said.