HS Football: 1A Royal Flush for the Knights! 5 Titles in a Row & Coach Allred hits 300 wins

12/6/2024

Royal 61, Seton Catholic 28

(Seattle, WA) Coming into the 1A State Title game it was all about whether or not Seton Catholic would be the one to snap the mighty run of the Royal Knights. Royal was seeking their 5th straight Championship, 8 out of the last 9 and 13th overall big trophy. The Cougars were eliminated last season in the semifinals to Royal and were pumped to even the series.

Both teams got off to a shaky start. The 1st score wouldn’t come until less than a minute to play in the 1st quarter. Lance Allred would cap off an 86 yard, 8 play drive with a brilliant 39-yard run which would serve as a precursor for what was to come and with 21-seconds to go Royal struck first and led 7-0.

On the next Knights possession Allred would strike again with a 19-yard scramble for the touchdown and Anderson Brown booted his 2nd PAT for the 14-0 lead.

The Cougars answered and got on the board when QB Kolten Gesser hit Ryker Ruelas for an 18-yard scoring play, Dalton Woods kicked the extra point and cut the lead in half to 14-7.

Now that the offenses were rolling the Knights took over on their 27 and drove the field in 8 plays in about 2 and half minutes but this time Allred dropped back and hit Jackson Larsen for a 34-yard scoring strike and pushed their lead back to 14, up 21-7.

The Knights may have gotten a little too comfortable going back up by 14 as it took Seton Catholic 13 seconds to respond when Ruelas took the kick-off to the house with an 84-yard burst and it was back to a 7-point game. After Royal fumbled the ball S-C would take less than 30 seconds to tie the game on a Gesser to Teddy Wieczorek 15-yard connection and at the break the game was all even.

Most of the halftime stats were pretty even with the Knights running 32 plays to the Cougs 28, time of possession was less than a minute apart but the eye-catching stat was Royal fumbling the ball 4 times and losing 2 which S-C took full advantage.

With momentum on their side the Cougars would get the ball first in the 3rd quarter. Royal came out and were looking to take that momentum back and held the Cougars offense and got the ball back. Allred was apparently just getting warmed up in the 1stg half as he finished off the Knights opening drive plunging in from the 3-yard line completing another long 70-yard drive.

Seton Catholic did respond with a long touchdown run but got called back for assisting the running back. One of the Cougs pulled Joe Callerame through the defense and he broke free score a long TD but it was negated due to the penalty. They were then held on 3rd and long and had to punt it away.

Royal then broke it all loose and Allred scored his 4th TD on a 14-yard run with 6:05 to go in the 3rd. The defense then stepped up and Ben Jenks picked a Coug pass returning it 37 yards for the score with 8:40 to in the game. About 2:30 minutes later Allred broke free for a dynamic 49-yard run and it was 48-21.

The Cougars made one more run and answered with a 3-yard TD pass from Joe Callerame to Ruelas to make it a 20-point game with just 4:29 to play.

S-C attempted an onside kick but Royal recovered. The Knights’ Allred then broke free scoring a record setting 6th touchdown rumbling 48 yards to the endzone. The Knights finished off the scoring with another pick 6 when Larsen picked it on their own 31 and cruised 69 yards for the final score of 61-28.

The win was a milestone in many facets, it gave them 5 State Titles in a row, a feat no one has officially achieved, although Bellevue did win 6 in a row at one point but they had to forfeit and vacate 2 of those titles so officially Royal is the 1st to do it. Lance Allred ran for 6 touchdowns and threw for another for a total of 7 TD’s and ran for 203 yards while passing for 200.

Coach Wiley Allred would never put personal accomplishments in front of the team but you couldn’t have scripted a better outcome for winning your 300th game as a head coach. Allred is now 300-28 for his career.

Our Thorbeckes MVP was an easy pick in Lance Allred with his stats we mentioned earlier.

For a complete look at the full box score or completed bracket click links below along with a link to the full broadcast on the NFHS Network.

Link to Final 1A Bracket

Link to full Box Score

Link to full game broadcast on the NFHS Network (subscription required)