Charles Wright runs into Royal buzzsaw in Class 1A playoffs
Mike Finch has a warning for the rest of the surviving Class 1A football teams.
Top-ranked Royal High School will be one tough out.
Finch’s Charles Wright Academy team was up first in the state playoffs — and the Knights rolled to a 69-0 victory Friday night.
Afterward, Finch admitted he did not remember much about the one-sided game — only that it went very fast. Royal led 62-0 at halftime, and the second half was played under the WIAA’s mercy rule of a running clock.
The Knights scored five touchdowns in the first quarter capped by Joey Lang’s third score on a 3-yard run with 49 seconds remaining.
“They are so good and even across the entire board from a physical perspective,” Finch said. “At the 1A level, you can usually find one or two weak links. Here, I don’t see it.”
Case in point: Royal is so talented and confident, it showed a defense it had not played all season Friday night against quarterback Henry Cheney and the pass-happy Tarriers.
“We had a bunch of cover-3 beaters, and thought we could come over here and score four or five touchdowns,” Finch said. “But they ran a 3-4 (base) with cover-2, playing deep safeties. Right from the start, they just stymied us with that brand new defense.”
Royal went up 62-0 on Kaden Jenks’ 32-yard touchdown strike to Lang in the final 2 1/2 minutes of the first half.
“They are just as good, or better than Cascade Christian (1A state winner) from last year,” Finch said. “I was in awe.”
It was Finch’s final game coaching at Charles Wright after seven seasons. He posted a 39-36 record.
CLASS 3A
At Eastside Catholic 42, Auburn Mountainview 7: Quarterback Gresch Jensen had a record-setting passing career for the 10th-ranked Lions even if his final game is one he’d like to forget.
Jensen was picked off five times by the defending champion Crusaders, who rumbled to a victory in Sammamish.
Three of Jensen’s interceptions were taken back for touchdowns, including two by do-everything Eastside Catholic standout Brandon Wellington.
Wellington’s first one covered 85 yards to give the top-ranked Crusaders a 7-0 lead.
Five minutes later, Jonathon Webster returned an errant Jensen pass 40 yards for a score, and Eastside Catholic led 13-0 with 3:03 to go in the first quarter.
Wellington’s final one, a 21-yarder, was with 24 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
CLASS 2A
At Archbishop Murphy 56, Black Hills 21: In the end, it was too much Anfernee Gurley for the Wolves to handle at Goddard Stadium in Everett.
Gurley did most of his damage in the first half, hauling in a 12-yard touchdown catch to give the No. 4 Wildcats the lead for good, 14-7, late in the first quarter.
And with five minutes to go in the first half, Gurley returned a punt 70 yards for another score, and Archbishop Murphy led, 42-7.
With 52 seconds to go, Gurley’s 15-yard touchdown run gave the Wildcats a 49-7 lead heading into halftime.
CLASS 2B
At Pe Ell-Willapa Valley 61, Life Christian Academy 21: The Eagles won’t soon forget senior Trevor Cook, who took control of this game for the Titans in the first half.
Cook, a 5-foot-8, 160-pound defensive back, had three interceptions, including a 45-yard return for a touchdown, and a fumble recovery as No. 1 Pe Ell/Willapa Valley beat the mistaken-prone Eagles in Menlo.
It wasn’t all bad for the Life Christian passing game. On its first play from scrimmage, quarterback Jack Hohimer hit Wyatt Dunlap on a 65-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 just 1:40 into the game.
After that, the Eagles could not keep the football. Hohimer threw five first-half interceptions.
Cook’s 45-yard return gave the Titans a 34-7 lead with less than 10 minutes to go in the first half.
And four minutes later, Cook took off on a 67-yard scoring scamper to push the lead to 42-7.
This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 11:23 PM with the headline "Charles Wright runs into Royal buzzsaw in Class 1A playoffs."