Royal's Danny Cuevas returns with four touchdowns
ROYAL CITY – If it wasn’t enough to defend against one of the best quarterbacks in the state, the Wahluke Warriors had to deal with the return of running back Danny Cuevas of Royal last Friday night.
His season delayed by an appendectomy, Cuevas burst upon the prep football scene with 104 rushing yards, 79 pass receiving yards (on four catches) and four touchdowns – all in one half of play.
The result was a 69-8 Royal victory that advanced the Knights’ record to 5-0 (3-0 SCAC East). Wahluke fell to 1-4 (1-2).
Knights coach Wiley Allred is expecting a stiffer test this Friday when Kiona-Benton visits Royal. The Bears hammered River View, 44-18, last weekend.
Friday’s game quickly became a no-contest, with the defending state champs scoring 35 points in the opening quarter. They used onside kickoffs to take control of the action. Wahluke did not do a good job of covering.
Simply put, Royal is veteran and experienced. Wahluke is young and inexperienced.
Cuevas struck first, collecting a 49-yard scoring pass from quarterback Kaden Jenks. The score jumped to 28-0 on a 23-yard Cuevas dash through the Wahluke middle.
Cuevas’s 22-yard run in the second quarter made the score 48-0, and he corralled another scoring pass, from 10 yards, to close the half with a 55-0 Royal lead.
“It’s great having Danny back,” coach Wiley Allred said.” He is our quickest player. He can help us on defense and special teams as well.”
Cuevas has been a part of Royal’s offense since his freshman season and Allred is planning on using him heavily now that’s back. With sophomore Alonzo Hernandez having a good year, Allred has a tough running tandem now.
The rest of Royal’s scoring was: Juan Niebla, 22-yard pass from Jenks; Isaac Ellis, three-yard pass from Jenks; Corbin Christensen, 15-yard pass from Jenks; Christensen, 20-yard pass from Jenks; Juan Niebla, 25-yard run; Yovani Cruz, two-yard run.
Although Jenks threw for six touchdowns, he was a bit off on his passing. He connected on 14 of 23 attempts for 61 percent. He had been completing 71 percent. His passes covered 209 yards.
Once again, the offensive line of Tyler Dorsing, Juan (Kiko) Garcia, Raynor (Yetti) Beierle, Juan (Grinch) Hernandez, Ramses Gonzalez, and TE Isaac Ellis kept Kaden upright. They have not given up a sack to date.
Jenks was the second-leading rusher with 30 yards, then came Alex Contreras, 26, Niebla, 25, Cruz, 22, Alonso Hernandez, 13, and C.J. Quintero, 5.
The team totaled 240 rushing yards. Wahluke rushed for 166 yards but was able to pass for only 25.
Second in receiving for the Knights was Christensen with three catches for 48 yards. Niebla caught three passes for 40 yards. Ellis caught two for 19. Addin Felker and Adrian Trinidad caught one pass each.
Angel Farias led the tackling with six solos. Alonso Hernandez had five solos and two assists. Javier Huitron had five solos and one assist.
In all, 20 Knights participated in tackles, with Juan Garcia in on six, and Ramses Gonzalez and Javier Martinez and Ellis in on four.