Knights prep for ‘tough’ Mount Baker team in 1A state title

ROYAL CITY – Playing in a state championship game is nothing new for the Roya Knights, who prepare to take on the Mount Baker Mountaineers in this weekend’s 1A State Football Championship in Lakewood.

“They’re fast, they’re quick, they’ve got a good football team,” Royal Head Coach Wiley Allred said. “They’re really aggressive on defense, they run their Wing-T offense really well like a lot of Wing-T teams that play this long in the season. They run the ball well, we’ll have to be really disciplined.”

The Mountaineers finished the regular season with a 6-4 record but tied with Lynden Christian and Nooksack Valley atop the Northwest 1A league to force a Kansas tiebreaker, where Mount Baker and Nooksack Valley advanced to the 1A state playoffs.

As the No. 10 seed, Mount Baker took down No. 7 Tenino 37-26, No. 2 Lakeside 35-20 and No. 3 14-13 on its way to the state title game.

“They’re tough kids, strong, big,” Royal senior quarterback Dylan Allred said. “Just a solid football team, and really impressive what they’ve been able to accomplish this year.”

Royal’s 57-21 win over Freeman last Saturday was just the latest in dominant playoff wins, having defeated Cascade Christian 41-7 in the first round on Nov. 12 and Montesano 41-9 in the second round on Nov. 19.

The Knights spent Wednesday practicing in the snow, with maintenance staff shoveling off half of the school’s football field to make sure the team could practice ahead of this weekend’s championship game.

“It seems like it’s a little different when school’s canceled, it’s similar to the other (seasons) – just find time and scrape fields off with snow,” Wiley Allred said. “The maintenance guys did that, so I just want to give a shoutout to them.”

With 13 seniors on this year’s roster, the Royal seniors will attempt to go out as champions in each year a state playoff game has been held. The Knights won championships in 2019 and 2021, with the 2020 season – which was delayed to the spring of 2021 – not seeing a postseason.

Senior running back Kaleb Hernandez credited the Royal coaching staff for guiding the senior class to this mark.

“It’s the coaching,” Hernandez said. “Coach makes every week different, we line up differently, and if we just do what we’re supposed to do we’ll win and work as a team.”

Now, all of the work put in by players and coaches will be put on the line in the 1A championship game. The Knights are gunning for their 11th state title, while Mount Baker looks to win its first.

“This has just been our goal forever,” Royal senior defensive lineman Detton Jenks said. “Even when it’s not football (season), we’re still working toward our goal of winning.”

Dylan Allred said that players on the scout team and underclassmen have helped the Knights to their 11-1 record this season.

“One thing we’ve been able to do is have a strong scout team, freshmen and underclassmen that help us push us every week in practice to help us prepare,” Dylan Allred said. “I think that’s one thing that we’ve had the advantage of.”

Royal heads to the west side on Friday morning, and Wiley Allred said he believes the school will have a solid fan turnout for the championship game in Lakewood.

“It’s always awesome, it’s nice,” Wiley Allred said. “To get those in the community, in the school, those young kids – it’s really fun to watch them with their signs and their flags. I think every small town, every town in general, but especially small towns feel that a lot, that community love and support.”

Royal and Mount Baker share two common opponents from the regular season, Lynden Christian and Toppenish. Royal defeated Toppenish 34-6 in the season opener, while Mount Baker lost to the Wildcats 48-31 on Sept. 16. Mount Baker defeated Lynden Christian 48-34 on Oct. 28, and Lynden Christian defeated Royal 21-14 on Sept. 24.

The Knights and Mountaineers kick off at 12 p.m. at Harry Lang Stadium in Lakewood on Saturday.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.