ROYAL CITY, WA – The Royal Knights defeated the Toppenish Wildcats 59-6 in the state 1A quarterfinals. The Knights now advance to the semifinals.
“I would not say flawless, but we played pretty error free. If our defense gives us enough chances. The offense is going to get it going, and I think we are a pretty hard team to stop,” Wiley Allred, the head coach for Royal Knights said.
So what’s the secret behind the undefeated team.
“I don’t know we got good players,” Allred said.
Leading receiver, Luke Bergeson said it is not just his team.
“They know so much about football. They get us prepared each week. You just go into the game and you know what you are going to do,” Luke said.
But what you don’t see is there is a lot of off-season work these football players put in to shine.
“For instance, Derek.., they all started in 8th grade with their weight room just improving their strength. These are sports kids, almost all of them. I am proud that they are dedicated that much time,” Allred said.
“All the work through the years, we just want to finish it off through the highest work we can. We want to go through our state championship. We are just going to give it everything we have,” Derek Bergeson, the leading quarterback for the team, said.
Not only do they perform well on the field.
“They are really good students too,” Allred said.
Allred said he saw some excitement from his team that normally doesn’t show.
“Such as Derek and Luke, they usually don’t show much emotion, but there was quite the emotion out there today,” Allred said.
And for the team, their excitement to bring another state title home continues.
“The end was special knowing that we moved on to the next round,” Luke said.
The Knights host Kings this Saturday at 1:00 in the semifinals.
