ROYAL CITY - Royal's seniors made the most of what was likely their final home high school football game with a 49-0 trouncing of the visiting the Burbank Coyotes last Friday night.

The victory clinched third place in the SCAC East and a regional playoff berth for the Knights, most likely against Zillah on Nov. 8.

Dominating defense, from start to finish on Friday, delivered the ball to the offense time and again with excellent field position. The offense returned the favor by running over, around and through the Coyote defense for seven rushing touchdowns.

"Our defense got off to a very fast start," senior defensive end Emilio Bustos said. "We really felt in sync defensively, and we know how much easier that makes things for our offense."

To say Royal's defense was smothering would be an understatement. Burbank managed only three first downs in the first half. It crossed midfield only three times the entire game and never got inside of the Royal 30-yard line.

The Knights played their most physical game of the season in all aspects. They held the visitors to 51 rushing yards on 20 carries and limited them to a 23 percent completion rate passing.

Bustos, fellow seniors Collin Christensen and Tony Mayorga and the rest of the defensive front set the tone. They recorded three sacks and pressured Coyote quarterback Justin McBride on almost every passing attempt.

That pressure resulted in three interceptions for the Royal defensive backs. Senior Tanner Christensen recorded his third in the last four games. Safety Jacob Lee had the other two for his first multiple interception performance.

"Our kids just played well," Royal defensive coordinator Jeremy Scroggins said. "We really didn't do anything special on defense. We had a pretty good idea about their situational tendencies, and we just filled our assignments, and our seniors led the way."

For the first time in five games the Knights had their full arsenal available on offense. Miguel Ayala and Darrin Miller alternated possessions at running back, and the results for each were nearly the same. Both found the end zone three times in the first half.

Improvement in the offensive line was evident as Ayala and Miller gashed the Coyotes between the tackles on play after play. While Miller finished with more yards (103 on 10 carries), Ayala (82 yards on 11 carries) found pay dirt from 22 yards out to score the lone touchdown of the second half.

Knight fans will be happy to see Ayala and Miller continue their game of dueling running backs this Friday. Royal will travel to Benton City (2-6 overall, 1-4 league) to face the Bears.

One of the Knights' goals is to build their momentum toward a rematch against top-ranked Zillah.