Knights win season opener 34-6

TOPPENISH — The 2021 Class 1A state champion Royal Knights kicked off the 2022 season with a 34-6 win over the Toppenish Wildcats, courtesy of an offensive outpour by receiver Edgar Delarosa and quarterback Dylan Allred.

“It feels good,” Royal head coach Wiley Allred said. “It feels nice to play a tough, quality opponent, and we got plenty to work on and plenty to learn from.”

The game began with a fumble by the Wildcats, recovered by Royal defensive back Caden Allred. On the Knights' ensuing drive, quarterback Dylan Allred threw an interception on the first play from scrimmage.

“Dylan’s kind of unflappable, he’s really good,” Wiley Allred said. “He just made a mistake – he knew it, I knew it. I didn’t even talk to him, just he knew. Threw it late over the middle, he forced it. You have visions of that being open, it wasn’t open.”

Following a Toppenish three-and-out, the Knights drove down the field and scored on a two-yard run by Dylan Allred, taking the ball from under center through the interior of the offensive line. The score, the first of Dylan Allred’s two rushing scores on the night, gave Royal a 7-0 lead.

“We gotta work, our o-line is young but I know they’re gonna want to play a little better on some of the run game stuff,” Wiley Allred said. “But I thought they protected really well. First game, and I thought a lot of it was Toppenish’s defensive front was really stellar, so we got to do things a little better.”

On Royal’s next offensive drive, Dylan Allred dropped back in the pocket and unleashed a deep pass to his senior wideout Delarosa on a go route, who caught the pass at the Toppenish 44-yard line and scampered down into the endzone. The score gave Royal a 14-0 lead, and Delarosa followed up with another receiving touchdown in the corner of the endzone just before halftime.

“He’s pretty special,” Wiley Allred said of the six-foot-four Delarosa. “He’s going to be a problem.”

Delarosa added his third receiving touchdown on the opening drive of the second half after Dylan Allred found him in the back of the endzone. Following a missed extra point, Royal had a 27-0 lead over Toppenish.

“We practiced all week, looking over film and the coverages,” Delarosa said of the game preparation. “Coaches said they run a lot of Cover 2, Cover 4, so we were just breaking it down when we were running routes.”

Dylan Allred added on his second rushing score with just a handful of minutes left in the fourth quarter, giving the Knights their eventual 34-6 final score. The senior quarterback finished with five total touchdowns, with all the passing scores thrown to Delarosa.

“It sets the tone pretty good,” Delarosa said on scoring three touchdowns in the season opener. “It builds confidence for everybody, not just me, but for everybody to execute and we just gotta play with intensity and be confident throughout the season.”

Despite the 28-point win, Royal’s head coach believes the team can improve more with what they learned from this win.

“We gotta work, our o-line is young but I know they’re gonna want to play a little better on some of the run game stuff,” Wiley Allred said. “But I thought they protected really well.”

Royal will stay on the road next Friday, traveling to Othello to play the Huskies. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Delarosa said the teamwork the Knights showed was what stood out to him.

“Offensive line was executing really good, down blocking and pulling, and I thought that really helped the passing game and the running game,” he said.

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

Box Score

Royal 7-14-6-7

Toppenish 0-0-6-0