Royal routs Eatonville for the 1A state football title
Royal head coach Wiley Allred said earlier this week that his football team’s greatest strength was its defensive unit.
On Saturday, his Knights showed that to be true en route to a 41-0 win over Eatonville to take the 1A state football championship at Harry E. Lang Stadium in Lakewood.
Beside the Knights pitching a shutout, Royal’s D gave up just 48 total yards and recovered two Eatonville fumbles.
“I didn’t see it happening that fast,” admitted Allred, whose team was going up against a much larger line.
Defensively, Allred said it happens up front, and includes two smaller guys on the line in Eddie Jimenez and Manny Sandoval. Both players are about 5-foot-8, 185 pounds.
“I’ve told them for awhile ‘You can’t do this. You’re too small,’” Allred said with a chuckle.
Detton Jenks is the third lineman. At, 6-1 and 250, he plays nose guard.
Those three clogged things up and allowed the linebackers to swoop up and make the tackles.
The top-seeded Knights rolled to a 34-0 halftime lead over the No. 2 Cruisers.
Much of the scoring damage came from Royal senior Avery Ellis, who scored on runs of 21, 2 and 14 yards, caught a 11-yard TD pass from quarterback Derek Bergeson; and returned a fumble 13 yards for a TD from his linebacker position.
Altogether, Ellis scored five of the team’s six touchdowns.
“Avery Ellis is an absolute beast on offense,” added Allred
Bergeson added the other TD on a 44-yard run.
In total yards, Royal rolled up 472 of them.
Ellis finished with 175 yards rushing on 22 carries, while Bergeson added 121 yards rushing on 15 carries and 169 yards on 12-of-18 passing.
Bergeson, also playing linebacker, led the Knights with 14 tackles (7 of them solo).
This was Royal’s 10th all-time state football championship.
The Knights have won titles in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2015-17, 2019, and now 2021.
And they never get old, winning state titles.
“This feels great,” said Allred.
Other state title games
GRAHAM-KAPOWSIN 44, LAKE STEVENS 7: Zack Lee rushed for 190 yards, Joshua Wood ran for another 172, and both players scored two touchdowns each as Graham-Kapowsin completed an unbeaten season at 14-0 in winning the 4A championship at Mount Tahoma Stadium.
Lake Stevens finished 11-1.
LYNDEN 21, TUMWATER 7: Cade Slayton rushed for 88 yards and scored all three of Lynden’s touchdowns to lead the Lyncs to the 2A state title at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup. Lynden finishes the season at 12-1, while Tumwater is 10-3.
KALAMA 16, NAPAVINE 14: Kalama quarterback Jackson Esary scored on a 3-yard run with 2:53 to play in the game, giving his team the 2B state title at Harry E. Lang Stadium in Lakewood.
Esary finished with 216 passing yards and a TD pass too.
Kalama finishes 12-0, while Napavine end up 12-1.
ALMIRA-COULEE-HARTLINE 50, QUILCENE 20: ACH (12-0) rolled up some big numbers en route to beating Quilcene (10-2) for the 1B state title at Mount Tahoma Stadium.
Parker Roberts rushed for 157 yards, while Grady Murray caught three passes for 137 yards.
Dane Isaak passed for 162 yards and three touchdowns, and he also scored one himself.
This story was originally published December 4, 2021 at 8:35 PM.