They’ve won 3 straight state championships. Can Royal football be stopped?

Everyone knows the story in the Class 1A South Central Athletic Conference East going into the 2018 high school football season: The Royal Knights are the favorite to repeat.

Wiley Allred’s Knights have won three consecutive Class 1A state titles and 41 straight games, and Allred himself has a career record of 217-26 in Royal City.

That’s pretty tough to beat.

“Honestly, you don’t do it without the kids,” said Allred. “Right now, we’ve had a good run with the kids. This is a good group of kids. And I have a good staff.”

Until someone beats them, the Knights wear the crown.

Connell has come close over the years, and Eagles head coach Wayne Riner would love nothing more than beating his good friend’s team.

“That would make me a happy man if we could beat Royal this year,” said Riner. “I am so sick of losing to those suckers. We could lose every game this year and beat Royal, and I think it would be a successful season.”

So all eyes will be on that matchup, set for Oct. 5 in Royal City.

The East lineup is down to seven teams after Columbia-Burbank was forced to drop down to 2B when its enrollment numbers dropped.

Here’s a roundup on the entire league:

Royal

Standout quarterback Sawyer Jenks (second-team all-SCAC East) returns to run the offense.

But the guy to watch is Alonso Hernandez, a first-team running back and linebacker.

He’s especially a standout at linebacker.

“Alonso is every bit as good a linebacker that I’ve ever coached,” said Allred, who said Hernandez is still recovering from a sore ankle this summer.

If he’s not ready to go, junior Lorenzo Myrick will step in at running back.

Hernandez, Myrick (defensive back) and DL Logan Gomez were all first-team defenders last season. DB Angel Farias was a second-teamer.

Jenks will get to throw to Farias too. He was an honorable mention wide receiver last season.

When you’re Royal, you don’t change the formula too much when it’s working.

“We tweak it a little bit,” said Allred. “We focused.”

Connell

Riner likes what he sees in his Eagles.

“These guys have played together a long time,” he said. “They fly around the field, and they’re very physical.”

Austin Smith returns at quarterback, while Jekoby Tuttle will be a tough two-way player at running back and linebacker.

Riner’s son, Payton, is a second-team all-SCAC wide receiver and defensive back, while Tony Herrmann was a second-team all-star on both the offensive and defensive lines.

“Our line averages 230 pounds all the way across,” said Wayne Riner. “We’re solid at every position.”

College Place

Coach Donald Ponds says his team’s biggest strength is its line play on both sides of the ball, “even though we are relatively young on both,” he said.

Junior Brian Jerald will run the offense, while Braeden Schwarz and Tanner Schreindl will his top targets.

Schwarz, a senior, played on College Place’s first varsity football team as an eighth grader. He is the only player left on that original team.

Kiona-Benton

The Bears have a new coach in Kenneth Noel, who has 34 years of football coaching experience, mainly in New Mexico.

Twelve of those years were as a head coach, and the rest were as an offensive or defensive coordinator at Class 5A and 6A schools in New Mexico. He also coached four years in college.

He likes what he sees with this batch of Bears.

“Our strength will be our skill players,” Noel said, “but we need to work on our physicality.”

Jorge Mondragon is expected to run the offense at QB, while Vitaliy Rizin and Tyler Fisher will be his main passing targets. Ozzie Moreno is expected to lead the team on both sides of the line.

River View

Panthers coach Bryce Kennell likes his rushing game this season.

“I would say that our team’s biggest area of strength is our running back position,” Kennell said. “We have two juniors who have both gotten significant carries over the past two years in Spencer Weatherby and Gabe Padilla.”

Logan Williams is the team’s quarterback, but he’s also an honorable mention returner at linebacker.

Junior Nick Monds will see time at both wide receiver and DB. D’Angelo Tate was a second-team all-conference wide receiver last year.

“We are going to have to improve on the offensive line,” said Kennell. “We graduated four senior offensive linemen from last year’s group, so we will be replacing them. Colby Stone, Jaden Brewer, Bryson Ashley and Justin Thomas have all stepped up and done a great job in the beginning of the season.”

Wahluke

New coach Ryan Antos said defense will be his team’s biggest strength.

The offense, he said, is coming along.

“As a first-year head coach, we will be running an entirely new offense for these kids, and we will improve as the season progresses,” said Antos. “We are in a rebuilding year, and we will now feature a more diverse offense than Wahluke has seen in the past.”

LB-RB Eli Barajas, LB-TE Gerardo Ledezma (second-team all-conference on the defensive line last year) and DL-OL Victor Abundez are expected to lead the team.

Daniel Ayala, an honorable mention all-conference player at defensive end last season, also returns.

Warden

The Cougars have some talent back, led by first-team All-SCAC East wide receiver Zach Richins.

DB Rodrigo Ozuna was a second-team all-star, while junior quarterback Ryan Arredondo was honorable mention.