Familiar foe for Royal Knights' first night of playoffs

ROYAL CITY — Royal will face Colville again in the state 1A football playoffs when the Knights open the chase for the state title at home Saturday at 1 p.m.

The Indians knocked Royal out of the playoffs two years ago. Last year it was Royal winning in Spokane to advance to the semifinals.

Even though the Knights have faced the Indians the last two years, they must be wondering just who they are. They smacked Cashmere last Saturday, 64-28 in a play-in game. They lost three games during the regular season and finished third in their league.

It’s likely Knights coach Wiley Allred will take the Indians seriously. They were impressive in the Cashmere game, which he scouted.

“They are tough,” he said. “Both teams will have a big challenge.”

Royal comes into the playoffs as the defending state champion, with a 9-0 record and 23 straight victories dating back to the start of last season.

It’s difficult to say this team is better than last year’s. They scored fewer points and gave up a couple more.

But this team faced a couple of tough non-league foes in 2A Ellensburg and SCAC West champion Zillah. And there were no stats against College Place, which forfeited, 2-0, citing a lack of players to face a team as formidable as Royal.

This team put up some serious stats, however. The average winning margin during the regular campaign was 50.4-8.1. The offense rolled for 3,115 yards, or 389 yards per game.

Because of the presence of senior quarterback Kaden Jenks, there was a stronger emphasis on the pass this year. Last year’s team blasted teams on the ground to set up the pass. This year the pass set up the run in the crucial contests.

Still, there was good offensive balance. The running corps churned up 1,323 yards. The air attack came up with 1,792. Meanwhile, the defense held opponents to 1,547 total yards, 812 on the ground.

The offense imposed its will most of the time. It converted 43 percent of its third down plays and 85 percent of the fourth down plays it attempted. It turned the ball over only nine times.

Everyone who follows Royal football knew the Knights would relay on the 6-2, 215-pound Jenks’ right arm, and that is the way it went. Ellensburg, which just may win the 2A state title, had no answer for him. No one did.

To stop the Knights, it will take a team with a hard pass rush and stingy secondary. Some teams may have one or the other, but that combination is hard to find at the 1A level and perhaps any level.

All of the starting line was experienced to some degree when the year started, but it was a relatively new line. It included Tyler Dorsing, Juan (Kiko) Garcia, Raynor (Yetti) Beierle, Juan (Grinch) Hernandez, Ramses Gonzalez and Isaac Ellis.

Allred and Knights fans knew they had a great line when it did not allow a sack against Ellensburg or Zillah in the first two games. Jenks went down only four times over the season.

Jenks had a great senior season. Just as last year, he completed more than 65 percent of his passes, and he was intercepted only three times. That was a bit of a slip from last year’s two.

Jenks threw for 209 yards per game and 27 touchdowns. And he did not build his stats with a short game. The average yardage of 107 passes was 16.75.

Making Jenks most effective was a corps of receivers who could catch the ball, whether it was thrown hard or floated. There were seven receivers who caught five or more passes.

Juan Niebla caught 18 for 265 yards and three touchdowns. Adrian Trinidad picked off 16 for 164 yards and two scores. Isaac Ellis caught 12 for 138 yards and four touchdowns, and Danny Cuevas caught nine for 149 yards and three scores. C.J. Quintero caught two touchdown passes, and Juan Ojeda caught one.

All of this capability means defenses will not be able to concentrate their efforts on No. 1 receiver Corbin Christensen during the playoffs. He caught 37 passes for 875 yards and 14 touchdowns, averaging 23.65 yards per catch.

The final stats might have shown a better balance between passing and rushing, except that returning senior Cuevas had to miss the first three games because of an appendectomy. He played five games, rushing for 487 yards on 53 carries.

Cuevas is backed by sophomore Alonzo Hernandez, who totaled 162 yards on 18 totes. That may seem like an insignificant staff. But Hernandez did most of that work against Ellensburg and Zillah, when Allred still didn’t how his rush offense would go.

Cuevas is the quick, surprisingly hard-hitting senior. Hernandez is bigger at 5-10, 185. He has good speed and would rather bulldoze defenders than go out of bounds. He may be the best back-up in the state.

Behind Cuevas (9.19) and Hernandez (9.00), the Royal rushing attack averaged 6.72 yards per play. Niebla ran the ball only seven times, but he averaged 18.57 yards per play.

The defense started the season like the offensive line, with questions. They were immediately answered affirmatively in the Ellensburg game. The Bulldogs were within striking distance all game long, by the Royal defenders kept them at arms length.

In the Zillah contest, the defense gave up a first-quarter scored then clamped down on the Leopards in a 40-7 contest. The linebacking corps and two down linemen led the tackling.

The top stopper was he linebacker Hernandez, who was allowed to focus on defense when Cuevas returned. He made 49 total tackles, including 30 solo stops.

Linebacker Jhonny Garcia was eight behind with 28 solos and 18 assists. Junior down lineman Ramses Gonzalez had 13 and 13. Junior linebacker Isaac Ellis had 16 and nine, and down lineman Juan Hernandez had 13 and 11.

There was plenty of support from the secondary. Free safety Kaden Jenks and defensive back Corbin Christensen were in on 23 tackles each.