ROYAL CITY — The Royal Knights (14-1-2) got the best of Okanogan Thursday evening with a 2-1 victory as they move on to the next round of the district tournament. The game was tight in the beginning, but the offensive efforts from the Knights allowed them to claim a win. 

“It was competitive; we had a close game,” said Knights junior Brayan Miron. “We had a couple of mistakes, but we got back and we just fought to the end.” 

The game started off with strong offensive pressure on the Okanogan goal by the Knights, but Okanogan was the first to score off a Royal error. Despite having possession of the ball for the majority of the half, Royal went into halftime down 0-1. 

Soon after halftime the Knights got themselves back into the game as senior Cristian Nieto found an opening to tie the game up in the first five minutes of the second half. Later in the half Royal scored another goal from Miron after he dove to head the ball into the back of the goal. 

“(I had to) go for the mistake and go hard and just try to make a goal,” said Miron. 

After getting up a score, the Knights held possession of the ball and closed out the game with a 2-1 victory. 

“The honest truth is that except for a few long balls that were questionable, we controlled every aspect of the game,” said Knights Head Coach Jens Jensen. “We scored three goals today, played a ball back to our keeper, he takes a long touch, clears it, and it goes off a defender into his neck.” 

Other than the error, Jensen said he was very pleased with the performance that the Knights had Thursday afternoon. Over the course of the game the team held Okanogan to only one shot on goal. 

“The thing is you’d think I’d be mad at them, I’m not mad at them. I think that’s awesome,” said the coach. “Show up and know that you’re like, ‘Maybe we can just hang on and survive here against this team,’ and they were doing it.” 

The change that helped bring the Knights back up in the second half came from Jensen telling the team to focus more on attacking and pushing guys forward. This strategy proved to be successful as it allowed Royal to score early out of halftime. 

“I told the boys, I always like it when they make me look like I’m smart,” he said. 

A gritty win like they earned against Okanogan is a great look for the rest of postseason as it showed good character from the Knights, said the coach. This will be important moving into the following weeks as they will be facing tough teams that will further test their offensive and defensive abilities on the field. 

Going in as a high seed in the remainder of the tournament, he said the key to their success will be figuring out how to play against other teams with strong grit and a desire to win. With a few days before their next game, the coach hopes to recover a few players such as Ernesto Deras who are working through injuries. 

“That’s what I’m looking forward to, getting a break and then we’ll be back at it,” said Jensen. 

With Royal continuing with their run in the postseason, Miron said he expects the team to keep riding their momentum and work to make it far in state. 

“I’m feeling great,” he said. “We just need to recover and we need to work hard to go to the finals.” 

The Knights head on the road to face Cascade in Leavenworth on Tuesday at 6 p.m. 

BOX SCORE 

OKNG: 1-0: 1 

ROYL: 0-2: 2

    Anderson Brown, a senior from the Knights, pushes the ball down the field in Thursday’s game against Okanogan.
  

    Knights senior Ernesto Barajas takes control of the ball during Thursday’s game against Okanogan.
  

    Royal sophomore Scout Stevenson races along the sideline with possession of the ball in Thursday afternoon’s game.
  

    Shea Stevenson, a senior from Royal, passes the ball to an open teammate against Okanogan Thursday afternoon.
  

    Knights freshman Elmer Gonzalez maneuvers the ball as he makes his way downfield against Okanogan.