Three-peat
Royal receiver Edgar De La Rosa holds up the 1A state championship trophy while celebrating with teammates after the Knight’s win over Mount Baker on Saturday.
IAN BIVONA/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Royal running back Kaleb Hernandez uses the hollow insides of the state championship trophy to put on his head, posing for photos with his teammates.
Royal quarterback Dylan Allred drops back to pass in the Knight’s 35-20 win over Mount Baker in the 1A state title game.
Receiver Lance Allred hauls in a six-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter against Mount Baker.
LAKEWOOD – Tied at 14 entering the fourth quarter, the Royal Knights rallied off three-straight touchdown scoring drives to pull away from Mount Baker in Saturday’s 1A state championship game, all of which within eight minutes of each other.
“It just started in the off-season, where we had to come together and lift weights and just working together,” Royal quarterback Dylan Allred said of what helped the Knights pull away. “It built a bond that’s hard to break.”
Mount Baker scored a late touchdown to cut the lead to 15, but Royal receiver Lance Allred recovered an onside kick attempt to seal Royal’s third-straight state title victory. The win was Royal’s 11th state title in program history.
“It’s incredible,” Dylan Allred said. “It’s just been the goal that I’ve been working for, for so long, just every day thinking about it and trying to put in work. To have it finally be accomplished, with my team, my brothers, it’s incredible. Just super thankful.”
Down by seven in the first quarter, the Knights countered an early Mount Baker score with a seven-play, 33-yard touchdown drive that finished with senior receiver Edgar De La Rosa hauling in a three-yard score on fourth down. The senior receiver beat his man on a quick out route to tie the game at seven with just over a minute remaining in the first quarter.
Two drives later, a second-down sack by Royal junior Juan Morales stalled out a Mountaineer drive, and the Knights answered with another score – this time from 10 yards out and into the hands of sophomore receiver Lance Allred. The scoring drive was set up on a long catch-and-run on a tunnel screen by junior Case Christensen that set Royal up on the opposing 10-yard line.
“Nobody blocked me, and I saw their quarterback roll out,” Morales said. “I just ran to him.”
At the end of the first half, the Mountaineers had outgained the Knights 146 yards to 119 but still trailed 14-7.
“We just had to settle in a little bit,” Royal defensive lineman Detton Jenks said. “We just had to get comfortable doing our jobs on the line, and then we were able to make it work from there.”
The two squads each turned the ball over twice in the third quarter, with one of which leading to a game-tying touchdown run by Mount Baker’s Marcques George with 4:58 remaining in the quarter.
From that score, it was all Royal. De La Rosa intercepted his second pass of the game, which led to a six-yard passing touchdown to Lance Allred. A fourth-down stop led to a circus catch in the end zone by junior tight end Bennett Brown put Royal up by 14 with under five minutes remaining.
“Dylan put it in the perfect spot, it got tipped, lucky to come down with it,” Brown said. “There was a couple of tips, and I got it.
On the ensuing Mount Baker drive, Lance Allred recovered a fumble on the Mountaineers’ first play of the drive that led to a five-yard touchdown run by Dylan Allred.
“Lance got that fumble recovery, and I felt like our team morale just went up from there,” Brown said.
Royal finishes the 2022 season with a 12-1 record and their sixth state title since 2015.
“It feels great, it’s the same feeling every year,” Royal Head Coach Wiley Allred said. “The one that just happened is always the best.”
Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.
