By Makayla Sparks – For Whatcom Preps
LYNDEN – Saturday’s contest between the Royal Knights and the Lynden Christian Lyncs was a wet and muddy one, as Royal took the win 28-7.
The Lyncs kicked off to start to the game and two and half minutes into play they would get the ball on an interception by senior cornerback Dawson Bouma. However, it would be the Knights who found the end zone first.
Royal scored on a 37 yard touchdown pass and successfully kicked its extra point to take an early 7-0 lead. Before the quarter could end, Lynden Christian’s junior safety, Jayden Huleatt grabbed another interception for the Lyncs.
The second quarter saw Lynden Christians only scoring drive of the game. After Royal senior defensive back Caden Allred picked a Lyncs pass, the Knights failed to move the chains and returned the ball back to LC.
After trading consecutive punts, Lynden Christian received the ball on their own 26 yard line and put together a 74-yard drive that ended in a touchdown. LC senior quarterback Jeremiah Wright finished the drive with a 4-yard score on the ground, which tied the game at 7-7.
Royal attempted to kick a field goal before the half was over but came up empty handed and the game stayed tied as the first half expired.
Lynden Christian had the opening possession of the second half but was quickly forced to punt it away. The Knights received the ball with only 40 seconds taken off the clock in the third quarter and they scored their first of three rushing touchdowns from 34-yards out.
Up 14-7, the Knights forced the Lyncs to punt again but on the ensuing drive the gave up yet another interception to Huleatt. The wet ball was challenging the teams and continued to do so as LC turned over the ball on a fumble.
After recovering fumble, Royal took ball on the LC 20-yard line and rushed into the end zone from seven yards out a couple of plays later.
The Lyncs offense was halted on the following drive by an interception grabbed by the Knights junior defensive back Jackson Larson. Lynden Christian returned the favor, two minutes later, when Huleatt picked off his third pass of the game.
But that’s not were the interceptions ended as 30 seconds later Royal’s Larson grabbed his second interception of the game. Royal punted the ball away following the interception, however, LC fumbled the return and the Knights recovered it at the Lync’s 23 yard line.
Royal punched the ball in on a 3-yard touchdown to start the final quarter and they expanded the lead to 28-7. A late Lynden Christian fumble and multiple turnover on downs prevented anymore scoring from either team and the game would finish with the Knights winning 28-7.
Huleatt, who was getting his first varsity start at safety, in place of injured senior Treven Blair, had four tackles to go along with his three interceptions. Wright finished with 12 tackles, including four behind the line of scrimmage, while inside linebackers Trey Bosman and Kayden Stuit combined for 20 tackles and three tackles for loss.
Lynden Christian (2-2) stays at home for a matchup against Napavine (4-0) on Saturday, September 30 at 2pm.
Royal 28 Lynden Christian 7 ROY 7 0 14 7 - 28 LC 0 7 0 0 - 7 ROY - 37 yard touchdown pass (kick good) LC - Wright 4 run (Penner kick) ROY - 34 yard touchdown run (kick good) ROY - 7 yard touchdown run (kick good) ROY - 2 yard touchdown run (kick good) ROY LC 44-157 Rush Att-Yards 31-107 11-28-4 Comp-Att-Int 7-30-3 179 Passing Yards 40 Individual Leaders RUSHING - ROY: N/A. LC: H. Owen 13-43, Stuit 6-41, Wright 9-27, Maberry 2-3, DenHartog 1-(-7). PASSING - ROY: N/A. LC: Wright 5-23-2-31, Maberry 1-4-1-(-1), DenHartog 1-3-0-10. RECEIVING - ROY: N/A. LC: Bouma 4-26, Stuit 2-15, Bajema 1-(-1).
