Royal claims fourth title in five seasons with 26-22 win

LAKEWOOD — Cooper Christensen’s interception with under 20 seconds to play sealed the victory as the Royal Knights claimed the 1A State championship with a 26-22 victory over Lynden Christian on Saturday.

The title gives the program its fourth in the last five seasons — and ninth total — finishing undefeated on the last four occasions. In a game that began in the rain at Harry E. Lang Stadium in Lakewood, the Knights faced perhaps their toughest test of the season in the Lyncs.

“They’re an amazing team, big credit to them,” senior Tyler Allred said. “They’ve got a ton of athletes, they have some really good players, better players than we’ve seen all year. But we knew we were going to have to earn it, and I wouldn’t have wanted to win it any other way.”

The first quarter found both teams fighting for position, with neither side able to open up a lead in the opening 12 minutes. The Lyncs would strike first as the Lynden Christian receiver took the catch 60 yards to open up a 7-0 with just over eight minutes to play in the first half.

On the following drive, the Knights would lose the football on a fumble. Less than two minutes later, Royal lost the football again on an intercepted pass from Caleb Christensen.

Royal rallied late in the second quarter, driving the ball down inside the five, before Caleb Christensen managed to sneak in from two yards out for the score. With a little more than a minute to play, the score drew even at 7-7.

The Knights were able to force the Lynden Christian fumble just over two minutes into the third quarter. Caleb Christensen found his way in again from close after another a big catch from Cooper Christensen set up the Knights.

Royal would head into the fourth, holding a six-point advantage at 13-7. Starting the fourth in great field position, the Knights struck on the first play as Christensen hit Allred for 19 yards and the score.

Up 19-7, Carter Dorsing would give the Knights the ball back quickly in the fourth quarter with the interception. The Lyncs would respond to the Knights’ 19-point surge, beginning with another bomb, with a 63-yard strike trimming the Royal lead to 19-14 with a little over seven minutes left.

Deep in their own territory and forced to punt, the Royal snap went high over Michael Perez, with the Lyncs scooping up the ball with 3:22 remaining. On their first play after the fumble recovery, Lynden Christian struck on a pass to the back of the end zone, retaking the lead at 22-19.

The Knights took back over on offense, responding in a hurry. Caleb Christensen found a streaking Aldo Farias down the sideline who took the ball 74 yards for the touchdown and the 26-22 lead.

“It kind of felt like we had it done because we have a great defense and they have to score twice,” head coach Wiley Allred said. “But when you make two blown assignments and a snap over the kid’s head, that’s what happens. But, to come back from that is pretty remarkable actually.”

Royal’s interception with 1:59 remaining gave the Knights the chance to run down the clock. Taking back over with only seconds remaining, the Lynden Christian pass would find the arms of Royal’s Cooper Christensen. The ensuing victory formation made things official as the Knights walked away with the hardware after a hard-fought victory.

Caleb Christensen threw for 323 yards in the win on 23 of 38 attempts with one interception. He finished with four touchdowns total, two rushing and two passing. Lorenzo Myrick led the Knights on the ground with 61 yards on 21 carries.

Cooper Christensen had another monster game, with nine catches for 137 yards. He also grabbed a pair of interceptions on defense. Aldo Farias finished with two catches for 80 yards and the score. Both Derek Bergeson and Tyler Allred finished with four catches for Royal as well.

Derek Bergeson led the Knights with nine tackles, including three for a loss. Kevin Reyes picked up a pair of sacks in the game.

Royal finished with 408 yards of offense as a team, while giving up 270 to the Lyncs.

Tyler Allred said it’s hard to describe the feeling after the game, but said it’s emotional.

“It just makes everything worth it,” he said. “All the work we put in and all the long practices, all the workout sessions, it makes it all worth it. It’s just an amazing feeling.”

Playing his final game with the Knights, Allred said he won’t be able to forget this group of players.

“I mean, they’re brothers after this,” he said. “Especially after a game like this and season, going this deep, can’t forget ball like that. They’re brothers forever.”

Senior Michael Perez said after falling to Colville last season, he let everyone know they’d be back.

“I told them last year after we lost, I’m gonna bring it back,” he said. “And we brought it back and look what happened.”

Perez said the Royal program is really something he grew into.

“Once you’re with Royal, you’re just thinking about football, nothing more,” he said. “So growing up in this community, it’s like a big family.”

After a four-touchdown performance to cap off his first season at the helm, Caleb Christensen described the feeling after the win as simply excitement.

“That’s a great team and they played their butts off too, so it took everything we have,” he said. “Such great coaching staff, such great players, it was great.”

Caleb Christensen credited the leaders on the team for stepping up and getting the Knights back on track in the second half.

“We knew we didn’t play great in that first half so we had a lot to do to come out in the second half,” he said. “We adjusted. We have great leaders on this team that got everything going.”

Cooper Christensen said the feeling is “an all-time high” after the way last season ended. He said it was great being able to send off the senior class with another title under their belts.

“It was awesome to see them and play with them one last time,” Cooper Christensen said. “Seeing the smiles on their faces is something you can’t buy.”

Winning the title after coming up short last season didn’t bother Wiley Allred as much, as the Royal coach said a lot of teams in the state would like to be where they are. Just having the chance to play for one is an incredible feeling, he said.

“There’s no demons, but it also took the pressure off our kids’ backs about the streak,” he said. “In a sense, it was good. We still won a lot of games and we’ve got most these kids back next year.”

For this senior class, walking away with three titles in four years, Wiley Allred summed the group up by pointing out their glue players who have remained ingrained in the program despite not starting or playing a great deal.

“Their class wasn’t exceptional as far as winning games in seventh, eighth, ninth grade,” he said. “They’ve kind of had to manufacture things. But the group together, it’s just been awesome.”

Odessa 80, Naselle 26

TACOMA — Odessa wrapped up one of the most dominating 1B seasons in history with its second consecutive state championship, 80-26, over Naselle.

Odessa removed any drama from the proceedings early with a 32-0 lead after one quarter.

Marcus King rushed for 380 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 20 yards per carry. Josh Clark added 162 yards and two touchdowns.