No. 1 Royal holds off No. 2 Connell 24-21

ROYAL CITY — Royal wide receiver Corbin Christensen stood in the west end zone watching Knights fans pour from the grandstands onto the field following Friday night’s battle of the top-ranked 1A football teams.

“I love these games. I mean look, our whole town’s here,” said Christensen, whose team extended its winning streak to 34 games with a 24-21 win over No. 2 Connell. “Judging from their stands, I’ll bet theirs is too. These games are so much fun.”

No. 1 Royal (7-0, 5-0 SCAC East) scored first, led the entire time, but the game wasn’t over until the final play. The Knights did everything they could to run the clock out on the previously unbeaten Eagles (6-1, 4-1). But combined with Connell timeouts and a Royal delay of game, the Eagles took over on downs at midfield with 4.5 seconds remaining.

They had held Connell quarterback Austin Smith to just 4-of-11 passes for 19 yards, but he certainly had the arm strength for one last heave to the end zone for an Aaron Rodgers-like miracle under the right circumstances.

Royal lined up six defenders across the goal line as the ball was snapped. It’s hard to say if Connell coach Wayne Riner had a hook-and-ladder underneath planned with some sort of multi-lateral play drawn up. But Smith’s pass was dropped and the Knights extended their winning streak to 34 consecutive with the three-point victory.

“It’s a rivalry. It’s a win against Connell. It’s always good,” said Christensen, who caught four balls for 98 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown on the first drive of the second half. “The past three years have been close. Two years ago, we barely beat them here. Last year, we barely beat them there. This year went down to the final play.

“I don’t know what that says about this year, but when we play them it’s always in front of bigger crowds and it takes everything we have to win.”

That it did.

Connell rolled the dice early and was stuffed on a fourth-and-3 on their own 45-yard line on the first possession. The pressure to score first was apparent, but it was Royal who drew first blood with a lead it would never relinquish.

The Knights drove 55 yards in three plays, scoring on a 46-yard pass from Sawyer Jenks to Isaac Ellis, and it looked like it might be another Knights runaway. Osvaldo Guerrero connected on a 21-yard field goal 16 seconds into the second quarter. With a defense that had not allowed a touchdown in the first six games, the 10-point lead seemed safe.

But on the ensuing kickoff, Parker McCary returned it 90 yards for the first touchdown against and the Eagles were back in business, 10-7. Connell would score a touchdown with its special teams and defense when Alexander Deines returned a strip sack 15 yards, and eventually with its offense in the fourth quarter. But the Eagles never led.

“We’re still one of the top teams and we never panicked. We know how to win,” said Jenks, who completed 14-of-27 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns. “We always find a way to pull it out in the end. Games like this make us all that much better.”

The Royal defense did its part, Christensen had a pass interception as the Knights squelched the Eagles’ passing game. Tristen Garland finished up as the leading rusher with 106 yards on 21 carries, but that was the extent of the Eagles’ offense.

“We knew they were going to be tough. We knew they were coming at us and it was a lot of fun,” said middle linebacker Alonso Hernandez-Rangel. “It was a nice test of adversity. You have to play hard every down, which is how we play all the time. We knew we had to do everything we could to stop them, and that’s what we did tonight.”

It was a game of 1A titans and there’s a distinct possibility Royal and Connell will meet again somewhere down the road to the state championship. Royal plays at Burbank on Friday against Columbia.

Score by quarters

Connell 0 7 7 7 - 21

Royal 7 3 14 0 - 24

Scoring summary

R - Isaac Ellis 46 pass from Sawyer Jenks (Osvaldo Guerrero kick)

R - Guerrero 21 field goal

C - Parker McCary 90 kick return (Parker McCary kick)

R - Corbin Christensen 64 pass from Jenks (Guerrero kick)

C - Alexander Deines 15 fumble return (McCary kick)

R - Alonso Hernandez 3 run (Guerrero kick)

C - Tristen Garland 1 run (McCary kick)