LAKEWOOD – All good things must come to an end, and this Mount Baker season, which was miraculous, had to come to an end as well. After playing even with the top-ranked Knights for the first three quarters, Royal ran away with it in the fourth, and defeated the Mountaineers 35-20 for the Class 1A State Championship at Harry Lang Stadium on Saturday.
Mount Baker started out strong, and put together a long drive to begin the game, but came up short in the red zone on a fourth-down play. Three plays later senior safety Landon Smith intercepted a pass which gave the ball back to the Mountaineers at the Royal 14-yard line.
Senior running back Wilhem Maloley scored two plays later as he followed an Ethan Larson blocked and darted into the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown run. Tanyen Staton’s extra point gave the Mounties an early 7-0 lead.
After trading punts, Royal scored its first touchdown when Dylan Allred his Edgar De La Rosa on a 4-yard hitch on fourth down, which tied it up 7-7 with 1:12 left in the first quarter.
The Knights scored once more before the half, this time on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Allred to Lance Allred in the back left corner of the end zone.
After forcing a Royal punt to begin the third quarter, the Mountaineers put together a strong drive, but it abruptly ended when De La Rosa intercepted a pass in the end zone. Once again, Smith righted the wrong on the next play as he intercepted a Dylan Allred pass that was initially tipped by senior linebacker Marcques George on the very next play.
The turnover set Baker up at the Knight 34-yard line, and the rugged offensive line became energized after the big play. They began creating holes for George who scored three plays later on an 11-yard run, which was sprung by a decleating block by senior wingback Brady West. Staton’s kick tied the game at 14 with 4:58 left in the third quarter.
Mount Baker’s hopes grew even greater when George then stripped the ball on the next play from scrimmage, which was recovered by junior cornerback Landen Hanstead. The Mountaineers had a chance to take the lead, but another interception by De La Rosa flipped the Cinderella script.
Royal then went on to score three quick touchdowns after the fourth quarter arrived, and Mount Baker was running out of time. George ripped of a 60-yard run on the final Mountie drive of the game, and punched in a one-yard touchdown.
George finished with 1A state championship game record 244 yards rushing on 28 carries, which put him at 2,175 rushing yards on the season. That is the second most in school history, behind the 2,511 yards totaled by Jed Schleimer in 2015.
In fact, Mount Baker (8-5) ran more plays, and gained more yards than Royal during the state championship game. They just came up shy in points.
Even after coming up short, this was one of the most memorable seasons in Mount Baker history, which will be talked about for a long time.
Royal 35 Mount Baker 20 MB 7 0 7 6 - 20 ROY 7 7 0 21 - 35 MB - W. Maloley 8 run (Staton kick) ROY - De La Rosa 4 pass from D. Allred (Cervantes kick) ROY - L. Allred 10 pass from D. Allred (Cervantes kick) MB - George 11 run (Staton kick) ROY - L. Allred 6 pass from D. Allred (Cervantes kick) ROY - Brown 4 pass from D. Allred (Cervantes kick) ROY - D. Allred 5 run (Cervantes kick) MB - George 1 run (kick failed)
MB ROY 50-281 Rush Att-Yards 22-109 8-14-1 Comp-Att-Int 16-25-2 74 Passing Yards 196 Individual Leaders RUSHING - MB: George 28-244, W. Maloley 14-54, Larson 1-4, Smith 7-(-21). ROY: N/A. PASSING - MB: Smith 8-14-1-74. ROY: N/A. RECEIVING - MB: Hanstead 4-28, W. Maloley 1-25, D. Moa 1-18, Staton 1-4, West 1-(-1). ROY: N/A.
Great season by Baker. Well done boys..