ROYAL CITY — While the Knight offense lit up scoreboards this fall, it was the play of Royal’s defense that stomped out the dreams of opposing teams looking to pull off an upset, surrendering just eight touchdowns in 13 games this season.

Postseason domination

In the postseason, when the lights are the brightest and the pressure is on, the Knights only surrendered one score in five games.

“It’s the brotherhood we have,” Royal junior linebacker Lance Allred said. “We know that we’re not going to let each other down, and we’re all going to be there to help each other up.”

Royal’s defense was dominant throughout the 2023 season, but shined in the playoffs; it took until the 1A state title game for a team to reach the end zone, and the most yards gained by an opponent was 206 (Seton Catholic in the 1A semifinals). From the Week 10 Crossover against Naches Valley to the championship game against Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls), Royal gave up 155.8 yards per game to its opponents while forcing 10 turnovers over that stretch.

“The teams would get the ball down inside the 20, and our defense stepped up and really focused on putting pressure on the quarterback and stuffing the run game,” Royal head coach Wiley Allred said. “Probably the biggest thing was trying to focus on slowing down the run game and not giving up big plays behind us.”

The crown jewel of Royal’s defensive play in the postseason came against Lakeside in the title game at Husky Stadium, where the Knights held an undefeated Eagle team to 170 yards of offense, intercepted three passes and held Lakeside out of the end zone until midway through the third quarter when the game was already out of hand.

The state title game saw a similar outcome to several of Royal’s postseason games; Royal scored at least 21 points in the first half of all five playoff games while also shutting out their opponents through the first 24 minutes.

“In a lot of these games, especially the ones (where) we got a big lead early, we were set up by our defense having a short field,” Wiley Allred said. “(Defensive Coordinator Jeremy) Scroggins is always trying to challenge them to score on defense, get the ball back as quick as possible.”

Scroggins said one of the goals of the defense is to do more than stop the other team. 

“I like to joke with Coach Allred, my goal is to score more points than he does,” he said. “I want defensive touchdowns and special teams touchdowns; that’s my running goal, one of these years.”

Playing complimentary football

Many of those short fields throughout the 2023 season were set up by turnovers, which the Knights forced 34 of this fall — 29 of which were intercepted passes, a program-best according to Wiley Allred.

“The secondary kids were outstanding,” Allred said. “Case Christensen, Jackson Larsen at corner, and then at safeties we had Shea Stevenson and Caden Allred primarily — those guys are always around the football. Caden Allred’s our big hitter, and the other guys, they’re difficult to throw the ball against.”

Scroggins added that when the Knights put up a big lead early in games, it forced opponents to drop back and pass the ball more against Royal’s ball-hawking secondary.

“We get up on teams and they throw the ball a little bit more,” he said. “I think the state of high school football in our league and what we’ve seen is there’s more one-back, no-back, no-huddle stuff. They’re throwing the ball more. Part of it’s opportunity, the other part of it is our kids.”

Strong defenses have been a common theme for the Knights during their streak of four straight state championships; Royal gave up 4.2 points per game this season, 7.1 points per game in 2022, 3.4 points per game in 2021 and 4.9 points per game in 2019.

On third down, the Knights allowed a 28.1% conversion rate this season. On average, Royal gave up 158.2 yards per game to opponents.

“We have great kids,” Scroggins said. “They’re hungry, they’re humble, they’re willing to work on the field in practice, but they also put in the additional work. They film study, we break down stuff and they’re diligent about that.”

Royal achieved all this while replacing five all-league talents on the defensive side of the ball from the 2022 roster.

“We did have some guys coming back like Bennett Brown, Juan Morales on the defensive line — Noel Alatorre had played quite a bit,” Wiley Allred said. “We knew we had some guys coming back that had been there the year before on the d-line, and Jared Lee at linebacker was coming back. That helped the transition. In the secondary, we had Caden Allred and Case Christensen that had played quite a lot.”

Preparing for a title run

Like any year, developing a plan for the 2023 football season began in the off-season. Scroggins said he got a look at just how good the Knights could be on the defensive side of the ball when they went to team camp at Eastern Washington University over the summer.

“We play a bunch of 3A, 4A schools and we see an incredible amount of speed, incredible athletes there,” Scroggins said. “It gives me a chance to see how we’re going to handle some team speed, and how do we compete, how do we react and how do we cover. Who can be physical and do all those things? I left football camp feeling like ‘Hey, we’re going to be alright.’”

As the season began, playing against different offensive styles gave the Knights a myriad of looks and opportunities to learn how to defend different types of teams.

“We saw all types of football,” Scroggins said. “We saw some true no-huddle, some 10, 11-personnel, two-back, one-back offenses. We saw some option; Lynden Christian jumped into the wishbone against us. I felt like we had seen a lot at that point, and our kids had defended it really well.”

Leading from the sidelines

This season was Scroggins’ 13th year with the Knights, serving as the team’s defensive coordinator in each of those years. A graduate of Royal High School, Scroggins was a member of the Knights for their state title win in 2000, defeating Tacoma Baptist 49-17. Upon graduating Scroggins played college football at Whitworth University, where he was a safety for his first three seasons before making the switch to linebacker in his final season. After his playing days were over, Scroggins was a graduate assistant for a year and the defensive backs coach for Whitworth for two seasons, before taking a head coaching gig at Grandview High School for three years.

“He’s just like another head coach on the field,” Wiley Allred said. “He does a tremendous job in terms of the X’s and O’s, but also in terms of helping these kids develop into young men.”

Scroggins’ impact was felt among players this season as well.

“It’s Coach Scroggins — he’s the best defensive coordinator in the state,” said Brown, one of Royal’s defensive ends. “Setting us up for success, it’s been amazing. All credit to Coach Scroggins.”

Royal will graduate eight players off of its 2023 roster; Trevor Dorsing, Lee, Morales, Wes Christensen, Alatorre, Caden Allred, Brown and Case Christensen.

Lee left words of encouragement for the Knights returning next fall.

“It doesn’t matter how far ahead you are, the scoreboard doesn’t matter — just keep playing, keep your head down and keep going,” said Lee, a senior linebacker for the Knights. “Just keep pushing.”

While the Knights will be losing six defensive all-league talents, Scroggins said the support Royal receives from its community goes a long way toward keeping the team’s roster stocked with talent.

“Our community is amazing,” Scroggins said. “We get amazing support, and that feeds directly into the quality of kids that we get the opportunity to coach. It is a big deal; we’re blessed because of the support, and it allows us as a football program to make it to where we’re at.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

    Royal senior Bennett Brown (87) and junior Ben Jenks (10) combine for a tackle against Connell on Oct. 26.
  

    Royal sophomore Shea Stevenson (23) intercepts a pass against Connell on Oct. 26. The Knights intercepted 29 passes this season, which Head Coach Wiley Allred said was a program-best.
  

    Royal junior Ben Jenks (10) pressures Eatonville quarterback Hunter Klumpar in the first round of the 1A State Football Playoffs.
  

    Royal junior Jackson Larsen (21) and senior Caden Allred (8) combine for a tackle against Eatonville.
  

    The Royal defensive line sets up for a play against Othello on Sept. 8.