Knights smash College Place

ROYAL CITY – The Royal Knights got it done in all three phases of the game in their 69-0 win on senior night over College Place Friday night, scoring on offense, defense and special teams.

“You never know how it’s going to go, but it’s always nice to see the returns and obviously the defense played well,” Royal head coach Wiley Allred said.

The Knights were up 14-0 before the offense even took the field, courtesy of senior receiver Edgar Delarosa’s two punt return touchdowns.

“It feels good, it sets the tone pretty high,” Delarosa said. “It set the expectation that we just gotta get to it every single play, and I feel like that set the bar pretty high.”

The Knights’ first drive ended with an interception on what Allred called a “miscommunication.” Still, Royal responded on their next drive with a five-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Dylan Allred to junior tight end Bennett Brown to go up 21-0. Following an 18-yard interception returned for a touchdown by sophomore Lance Allred, senior running back Kaleb Hernandez reached the end zone on a seven-yard run. By the end of the first quarter, the Knights were up 35-0.

“I just got to trust my line, and I have a lot of trust in them,” Hernandez said. “I just read the gaps well, they blocked good. It just makes big plays.”

Hernandez added his second score on the next drive on a three-yard run, Delarosa scored for the third time of the night on a 20-yard catch-and-run and Lance Allred scored on a 15-yard run to give Royal a 56-0 lead over College Place at the half.

“I love the community, everyone just comes and supports,” Hernandez said. “It’s always fun to play at home.”

Royal two rushing scores in the second half, the first a six-yard run by sophomore Nathan Niebla and the second an 88-yard run by junior Jared Lee, gave the Knights a 69-0 win over College Place. The Knights totaled nearly 350 yards of total offense in the win, while the defense forced five turnovers.

With the win, Royal improves to 6-1 on the year with one game remaining in the regular season. Even though the Knights expect to play more games at home this postseason, Delarosa said the senior night win still feels good.

“It feels good, this is really the only guaranteed home game,” Delarosa said. “Hopefully we have a few more home games in the future.”

The win comes just a week after Royal’s road matchup against Foss was canceled due to poor air quality in the area.

“Just because we got a game canceled doesn’t mean we get a day off,” Hernandez said. “We just kept grinding.”

Royal’s head coach said that the team stayed focused throughout practice this week despite last week’s game being canceled.

“They were ready to go,” Wiley Allred said. “They needed a game.”

Royal will kick off its game against Connell at 7 p.m. on Friday.

“It’s for the league championship, and Connell, they always play tough,” Wiley Allred said. “... especially at their place, we need to come prepared.”

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