Small-town Eastern WA team wins impressive 13th state football championship title

Royal football coach Wiley Allred has already run out of ring fingers.

Back in his assistant coaching days under then-head coach Bob Nielsen, Allred was part of the Knights’ first Washington state football championship in 1996.

When Nielsen retired after the 1998 season, Allred applied for the head coaching position and got it.

Many, many state championships have followed under his leadership: 2000, 2004, 2005, 2007, and an incredible run that started in 2015 of eight out of the last nine years.

Only 2018 and 2020 (COVID canceled the season) didn’t yield crowns.

All told, that’s 13 state football titles for the Knights.

Allred said they get state championship rings every year.

“I think we make the ring salesman happy,” he said.

After last Friday’s 61-28 win over Seton Catholic in the WIAA 1A state championship game, the ring salesman is getting ready for another round of fittings.

Despite what the final score looks like, this victory wasn’t easy after two quarters. The Knights fumbled twice, and the Vancouver-area scored turned them into touchdowns.

The teams went into intermission tied at 21-21.

“At halftime, we talked about making sure mistakes aren’t made and get back on track and play with confidence,” said Allred. “The kids came out and were ready to go. In the second half, let’s just play our football.”

That starts with quarterback Lance Allred, who is Wiley Allred’s great nephew.

Lance Allred rushed 21 times for 203 yards and scored six — SIX! — touchdowns. He also was 15 for 21 passing for 200 yards and a TD pass.

Lance Allred and his fellow seniors are winners, finishing their careers with a 46-2 record.

One of those two losses was a 21-14 verdict Lance Allred’s sophomore year — his first on varsity season — at the hands of Lynden Christian.

The other was his freshman year, when the Knights’ C team traveled to Seattle to play Class 3A O’Dea.

“We lost to them, but they ended up being pretty good as seniors too (the Irish won the 3A state title on Friday night),” said Wiley Allred. “My son took them over and told me, ‘Dad, they had a hard time tackling Lance.’”

A common theme throughout the prep career of the young man — who is already on to his next sport.

“I have come down (from Cloud 9),” said Lance Allred on Tuesday night. “We got right into basketball.”

The Knights are expected to be one of the better 1A boys basketball teams in the state.

“We have everybody back and we have a lot of athletes,” he said.

Wiley Allred gave props to Lance, who in his two seasons at quarterback: never lost a game; passed for 5,420 yards; had a 70.13 passing completion percentage; 75 touchdown passes against just 16 interceptions; rushed for 1,462 yards; and scored 37 rushing touchdowns.

“Lance Allred is amazing,” said Wiley. “He’s among the top players we’ve ever had here. He’s really done some impressive things. He’s also our middle linebacker and he runs the defense.”

Wiley said he hasn’t seen many college coaches coming after the senior, “but he can play a lot of positions. His decision making at quarterback is pretty good. He’s a dual threat.”

But it’s not just about Lance Allred.

Royal has had a number of outstanding players this season.

In the title game, Shea Stevenson caught 6 passes for 89 yards; Jackson Larsen had 4 receptions for 70 yards; Santana Luna rushed 12 times for 68 yards; Ben Jenks had 12 tackles (1 for loss).

Jenks and Larsen also picked off passes for touchdowns.

Those were numbers 14 and 15 in Pick-6’s for the Knights defense this season.

So the Royal recipe is clear: discipline with few mistakes. Everyone do your job.

Lynden Christian head coach Greg Terpstra perhaps described the Knights perfectly to the Lynden Tribune last month after taking a 56-12 thrashing in the state quarterfinals.

“They don’t just pass the ball; they want to score a touchdown on the pass,” said Terpstra. “They don’t just break up a pass; they want to pick it off and run it back. They don’t just make the right block; they want to block through you. That kind of focus and execution is admirable.”

Lance Allred totally agrees with that assessment.

“We’re pretty confident running our offense,” he said. “Every play is designed for us to score. That’s all Wiley and (offensive coordinator) Jeremy (Scroggins).”

Lance Allred will miss the Friday nights on the football field.

“I’ll miss the small-town football. I’ve played with 95 percent of these seniors since we were in first grade,” he said. “I’ll just miss the whole environment.”

Liberty Christian

Only one team really ends up being happy at the end of any high school sports season. And that’s the state champion.

But it was a great run for the Liberty Christian football team this season.

The Patriots ended the season with a 13-1 record, losing only in the WIAA 1B state championship game last Friday at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

Wilbur-Creston-Keller ran 83 offensive plays to LC’s 31, dominating the clock and yardage to beat the Patriots 42-34.

Preston Michel rushed 39 times for 223 yards and three touchdowns for the Wildcats, which finished 14-0. Teammate Kallen Maioho added 86 yards rushing on 22 carries.

In all, WCK had 28 first downs.

There are a lot of guys who play on both sides of the ball for Liberty Christian’s football team.

But it can be harder spending so much time out on the field with the defensive unit. After all, the offensive unit knows where it wants to go, while the defense is reacting on the play.

“Offensively, we were never able to get into a good rhythm,” said LC senior Charlie Branning. “Playing that much defense just throws you off. It definitely takes some conditioning. During our two-a-days last summer, we’d do a lot of running.”

Patriots coach Craig Lukins gave WCK credit.

“They had a good game plan,” said Lukins. “There were a lot of tears after the game. We talked about how special this season was, to be in the UW locker room. Those seniors are special, and our underclassmen are motivated for next year. They understand how big this was. We lost, but for the most part, it wasn’t for a lack of effort.”

Branning has been the star of this Patriots team, and he didn’t disappoint in his final game.

He rushed just 14 times for LC, but he rolled up 183 yards for three TDs (73 yards, 44 and 40).

Perry Pottle added 78 yards passing, completing 6 of 15 attempts.

Dax Mercure caught three of those passes for 50 yards.

As one would expect, the Patriots defenders — being out on the field so long — rolled up the stats.

Levi Idler was in on 28 tackles, while Addison Lyle added 19, and Ashton Hardenbrook had 18.

By Monday, the Patriots were able to positively reflect on a great season.

“Everybody is pretty proud of what we did this season,” said Branning.

Branning said this group of players were extremely close, and they spent a lot of time together these past six months.

It’s something he’ll always cherish.

“I really enjoyed how we were all Christ-centered,” he said. “We were playing for everybody, not ourselves.”

Lukins will miss the seniors.

“That group of seniors is pretty special to me,” he said.

Branning is already talking about next spring’s baseball team, in which he is the center fielder. The Patriots have placed third at state the last two years.

“And,” he said, “we have everybody back.”